Raige Creations

Source - Pinterest Go, ask, step. Sometimes we need a reminder, if we are feeling stuck or stagnant, to just do it. Sometimes it is that simple, even if it does take a great effort. It will get you results. I needed this reminder, as I have stopped working out, been really lazy, and now feel stagnant. I will be starting a new job Monday, which I am actually very excited about, even if a bit worried about the huge job description and big responsibility.  I worked my whole life really, for just this type of position (GO), I applied (ASK), and I was offered the job (STEP). Now, after weeks of waiting and being most definitely lazy, back to work I go. For me, I have decided this also means back to working out, back to blogging, back to not being lazy. A good reminder, just to GO, ASK, STEP.

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...

Wow. I haven't really had a lazy weekend like this one in ages. The weather took a turn, and we have had stormy and chilly weather. Not like the East Cost of the US chilly, but darn chilly for a tropical island. And it has really sapped the motivation. You would think I would be all - "It is perfect wogging weather! I am so getting out there to wog!!"  But nope. Nothing. I glance at the shoes, that is it. I guess it is good to just be lazy some weekends. And when it is rainy and gray and cool, it is quite nice to stay cuddled up on the couch under a blanket.  I even relaxed enough to have this dream, a dream that I remember, and had a content hopeful feeling to it!  It was a running dream. I have them somtimes, particularly when I haven't been running or wogging. So the dream goes: I go for a run. And I am running down some street or up some hill, breathing  heavy and everything. Feels Like I am really running, except I always feel great and fast in my drea...

This song is on my 'Mom's Run Playlist - Fun' (as opposed to the 'Race' one or the plain one with a whole heap of songs that really aren't good to run to....) .  I added it when my kids let me know about this AWESOME tool to make any YouTube video a file you can put on your (or on my hand-me-down) ipod, otherwise known as MP3 file . I went on a bit of a  binge on YouTube of  80's music, and that is how this made the list. It actually has a good running beat! (much to the surprise of hubby that I would put ANY Rod Stewart song on a running playlist...needless to say, he is not a fan.) So I was running, and at this point in the run I was concentrating on the words (it was hot, and I was tired). I remembered this song from my teenage years, where some of the lyrics were inspring to a young mind, who was a bit bored with the suburban life, and dreamed of more exciting things to come. Like this line: "Young hearts be free tonight. Time is on yo...

Lately I've been losing sleep Dreaming about the things we could be But baby I've been, I've been praying hard Said no more counting dollars We'll be counting stars, yeah we'll be counting stars If only it were that easy.  I would love to just count stars.... Someday The worry of the other will be gone and only counting stars will be left. A girl can dream, right?

My Current  Dream Writing Space photo: Raige Creations Someday, my Actual Writing Space and my Dream Writing Space will be the same. For now, I mostly sit at my dining room table, which is not what's in the first picture here, by the way. That is my kitchen table, with a nice view, plenty of light, more comfortable chairs. My Current Dream Writing Space. My Actual Writing Space is my dining table, and it is basically in the living room (it wouldn't fit in the kitchen). The living room is on the side of the house that doesn't get sunlight, so it is very dark and the lamps don't really help that much. My Actual Writing Space (dining set IS for sale ..... as soon as we can move it out of there.....) photo: Raige Creations It is also where after a couple hours my back starts to hurt, because my  my feet don't touch the floor when sitting on the dining room chairs because I have short legs. This strains my lower back so I can hardly sit, and basically make...

'Frogass!' huh? I was confused at this outburst. Hubby is giggling, though I don't believe he is actually awake. 'Why did you make so many shipwrecks?' Um, we don't live near the ocean hun, and I didn't cause any shipwrecks. 'Frogasses are so small!' (imagine fingers now showing how tiny a frog's ass is) I roll my eyes, call him Frogass, and take the coffee back in the kitchen.  (I bring him coffee every day to wake him up, aren't I a sweet wife?) Well, the bribe of coffee didn't work that day. Hubby was still in dreamland when I tried to wake him up at 7am to see off my cousin who had visited. She was leaving early, as it was a long drive home. So I let him sleep. When he finally got up about an hour later, I said 'Morning Frogass'!  H e started laughing. Apparently he remembered his dreams! I showed him this video I found, and he said, 'Gabriel and I were there together! He gets it!' Oh, I wish...

Taking part in NaBloPoMo , I look forward to prompts to help me get started some days. If you are at all like me, you sometimes sit there, with a blank screen, and stare. Hoping something comes to you.  Then, when it doesn't, you scan the internet for inspiration. I try Facebook , Pinterest , BlogHer , Slate (okay, mostly I read Slate to unwind, not for inspiration) .  I sometimes am forced to look through my old pictures , try to remember which ones I have used, and try to find one that I can do something with. That is why I longingly read the suggested prompts that BlogHer suggested. I need someone to jump start my brain and get me moving! And sometimes it really works!! Sadly, the one posted on BlogHer for the first day did not. The prompt was:  "If you found one million dollars in the morning and had to spend it by nightfall, what would you do with the money?"   I tried, I really did, but who really cares how I would spend $1 million dollars in one...

photo courtesy of Draculina on FB I am truly blessed, even though times have been rough. I can still smile, laugh a lot, and I never stop dreaming.  This powerful song is perhaps the best way to start a Monday.  Dream On.  link here for background of song , and link here for lyrics , both good reads. Does it sometimes take a great song or a great saying to get you going on a Monday? 

photo courtesy of Raige Creations Yup. That's what it is all about here in the mountains. (A good smile I got when driving home from the last day of sales at the shop.) No, this is not my car, not quite the one I want, anyways. But since I will have some time on my hands in the near future, I may explore a little. But wait, I don't have 4-wheel drive. Crud. Maybe time for some new wheels too?  Purple. Jeep. Awesome! photo courtesy of Cascade4WD.com Some day. This will be my next vehicle. To roam the mountains, with the top down of course. Maybe not a redneck vehicle, but close enough for me. And I will get it dirty. Yee Haw! ' Till then, I will either have to confiscate hubby's truck from my daughter, or just live vicariously through the cars I get stuck behind.  Love where I live. Roll On!

Sometimes the clouds give us peace and clarity.  A cloud happened to pass right through us while we were at the summit of Craggy Pinnacle the other day . The quiet peace at the top of a mountain with the clouds all around is a moment where I found peace, and clarity.  You are quite encased, enclosed, just you and your head. The other clutter is not there, you are free to find out where you really are, and where you really want to be. It is often a moment that passes far too fast.  Don't ever worry of being accused of having your head in the clouds - it is an experience we all should enjoy as much as possible.  After all, Thoreau was onto something. The atmosphere below the clouds is not always paradise ~ the clouds can offer us insight we can achieve no other way.  Have you ever enjoyed your head in the clouds?

My daughter is so sweet and thoughtful. When back to school shopping she insisted on buying me a journal. Out of the blue! She brought me over to the journal section in the book store and asked which one I liked. I thought she was getting one for herself. "Well you have to pick honey, it's up to you" , I said.  She said, "No I want you to pick!"   " Why?" I asked.  "Well, I want to get one for you" , she said.  I was confused. " Uh, why?"   Why did I need a journal???  She said, " For you to write in. You want to start writing, Mom, so this will help you.  It will help you write, you can put quotes in there too, and get your ideas down." I mumble...and say "But I write on the computer" ....and she rolls her eyes. She continues, with a hint of disappointment  "I thought sometimes I could write quotes in there too, and you can bring this with you anywhere, and it's pretty isn't it?"   ...

It was time.  I was ready.  Time for change, time for a more focused direction, and I am ready to introduce... Not a different direction really. It is one I have been going for a while now.  As I was growing my other businesses, I was wishing more and more that I could write, share my motivations and insights that I have learned along the way.  Well, the time has come, and my opportunities are changing to allow me to give a more serious effort to writing, blogging, and creating in many different ways.  So I have focused this blog, and my facebook and google pages, to be the Thoughts of Raige; views of life, motivation, and creation. Basically what I have been doing all along, I just didn't realize that the look of my blog had been outdated for quite some time. I will still be selling my creations, as Raige Creations (on Artfire and Zibbet , plus Vintage Rage on Zibbet ), sharing my motivations, getting through life's highs and lows...

Well, if you want to sing out, sing out And if you want to be free, be free 'Cause there's a million things to be You know that there are And if you want to live high, live high And if you want to live low, live low 'Cause there's a million ways to go You know that there are Chorus: You can do what you want The opportunity's on And if you find a new way You can do it today You can make it all true And you can make it undo you see ah ah ah its easy ah ah ah You only need to know Well if you want to say yes, say yes And if you want to say no, say no 'Cause there's a million ways to go You know that there are And if you want to be me, be me And if you want to be you, be you 'Cause there's a million things to do You know that there are Chorus Well, if you want to sing out, sing out And if you want to be free, be free 'Cause there's a million things to be You know that there are You know that there are You k...

I LOVE roller coasters.  Well, perhaps I should say I used to love roller coasters. I haven't actually been on a real one in years. I loved the excitement, the expectations of that giddy feeling in your stomach, then the thrill of the motion. A wild ride, a few minutes of actual real fun. Then the ride slows to a halt, you find you legs and step off onto solid ground and venture off to find the next bit of fun.  This was what amusement park rides normally are like for me, well except for the ones that spin in two different directions and then around and around. THOSE make me feel like if I don't get off RIGHT NOW I am going to get so sick and perhaps die. I downright panic that I can't get off, and that makes it even worse, because the ride still no doubt has several, very long drawn out minutes left. No wonder people associate life with roller coasters. We can find our timeline of life events (not to use FB lingo, but what other way is there to say it?) filled...

Then we would cook corn meal porridge Of which I'll share with you....... On the radio today, it is Marley Monday, where they share Bob Marley songs throughout the day. On the way to school, dropping the kids off, we heard this song. My ears picked up the 'corn meal porridge' lyric and instantly I craved it. It was a common breakfast when we lived in the Caribbean, and I haven't had any since we moved from there. Suddenly I was homesick for my old home, and fond memories of our time there flooded my head. We had tough times then, we struggled plenty in our newly married lives, with a young family and stresses much the same as we are faced with now. We plowed on, we figured it out. We had fun still, we had each other. Everything turned out alright. And it will again. 'Nah Cry, we push h'on trew.' Meaning...'Don't cry we always make it through.' Sometimes we forget, we forget we are strong, and we need to be reminded 'Everything's g...

I know I know, it is Friday. Actually this post was originally something totally different that it is now. It is a story of Mr. Doubt and Miss Stress trying to make themselves a home right in the middle of my life. Rather suddenly aggressive, and rather quickly all of a sudden. Why Thurs. Day. ? Well, Wednesday was spent in an allergy fog, and Thursday was just too hard to even say when that day came around. Why was it hard? Miss Stress and Mr. Doubt had actually been hanging around since Wednesday, but I was in too much of a fog to address them. They were there, but were ignored. Well by Thursday, they were most unhappy to be ignored, and reared their ugly heads so much that I could only tackle the day in parts. Thurs. Day. It is what I wrote on our fridge message board , unable to come up with anything witty or positive to say on it.  Miss Stress and Mr. Doubt greeted me rather early.  I wrote a long-winded, negative, complaining post. Then went in to work and there ...

Some days, the distractions are a welcome relief to the stresses that are going on in your life.  I am lucky that, if I go far enough, on my run I can have such a fantastical distraction. Let me explain..... It was a beautiful foggy morning the other day - I was actually glad it was grey and foggy, it seemed to match my mood. After my warm up hill, and run through downtown, my mood wasn't much improved. This led me to want to go just a little farther. I thought it would be the one thing that would get me through the day, that I pushed myself and succeeded.  'A little extra distance would be the only thing I could be happy about today' , I thought. The stresses were so bad I didn't know how I was going to make it through the day. But then I noticed the most unusual thing. Upon what had I come across? What the was this bursting from the ground? A snake! A very large snake. Then, what should I see, a wizard to greet me? With a wise owl no less.  And th...

Take a moment, take a deep breath.  Let yourself relax,  let yourself get out the headphones,  plug them in,  and sit back  for a full 25 minutes of Zen.  How a zen moment should be.  Namaste.

She acts like summer and walks like rain Reminds my that there's time to change Since her return from her stay on the moon She listens like Spring and she talks like June. I think it would be nice to have drops of Jupiter in my hair. I want to take a soul vacation and trace my way through the constellations.  I want to check out Mozart while I do Tae-Bo, because I am reminded there is room to grow.  Imagine if the wind could sweep you off your feet, and we could finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, and then head back to the Milky Way. And then I imagine I would have some deep fried chicken, and a five hour phone conversation, but think I would pass on the soy latte. A good way to get through a Monday. Especially one that started at 4:45am because of the mind that would not sleep.  Now let's sail across the sun, and make it to the Milky Way, hope not all the lights are faded, and that heaven isn't overrated. Let's let Venus...