Raige Creations

Almost finished with my first ever 2 week vacation, and I finally am unwound and reminded of life without work taking up all my thoughts and time. It took more than a few days to unwind. And more still to tackle some things that I had let slip. I don't know what it was that gave me the motivation to do that 2.5 mile walk (with hubby!) this morning, not rushed. Then I did 30 minutes of yoga after the walk, no rush. I also wanted to get a swim in before the dreaded grocery trip that was needed, but not as dreaded as usual because I wasn't in a big rush.  I had spinach and sugar snap peas and almonds for lunch, with a nice lime in my water - healthy! (It makes no difference that this was all that was left after throwing out the rest of the rotted spinach - it sat in the fridge untouched for a week and a half.)  Lunch - better than it sounds, especially with a little poppy seed dressing A short rain shower delayed me, and I leisurely started some laundry. Then, for the first time ...

Wow I haven't blogged since December. Sorry folks. I am still getting used to the whirlwind that work is. It is non-stop from the moment I walk in until I force myself to leave as close to 5pm as I can. Yes, it is difficult to get out of there at 5, after skipping lunch and working straight through. It is so busy, so many different things happening, so exhausting. After December, which was full of vacation days and holidays, I have had to adjust to full work weeks with full staff in office. Mostly this adjustment has been dozing off shortly after dinner, if we actually have dinner..... Yes, some nights we don't have dinner. Just snack. I had carrots and dip one night for dinner. I found we had lots of carrots and hardly ever ate them, so carrots and dip for dinner. Which is a nice lead in to the state of our refrigerator. Let me just say we could not take the smell any longer. Finding the smell was the tough part. Long story short, a full cleaning of the fridge was necessary. T...

Who would have thought I would find my spirit animal on a walk? Is it really my spirit animal, or just a chance sighting I thoroughly enjoyed? We have been doing well getting our walks in. Oh yes, I have a walking partner now! I finally got hubby to start exercising. Even if i go a slower pace than when I am alone, it is great to have some company. Our walks bring us to the North Sound. If you follow me , you should recognize the views. I try to take a picture every day, thinking it would be interesting to see the slight differences each day. Honestly I think some days are just so beautiful, other are more subdued. A different view each time really. But perhaps I am the only one that finds it that way, as the moods often highly affect my interpretation of the views. And I may be the only one who never tires of these same place views. As we are still on  lock-down , and the beaches are still closed, I must find interest with what is in walking distance as we are not t...

A very special installment of Music Monday. In these unusual times, special installments are to be expected. I am now working remotely and therefore have 2 extra hours in my day that I am not sitting in traffic. (You may just see more blogs from me) These times are unusual, our lives have suddenly changed. For one thing, I have noticed that we all are more aware of what is gong on in our bodies. And other people's bodies. Every little pain, every time we go up the stairs and have a little trouble breathing, every cough, every time someone near us coughs. We start asking the questions at the slightest tickle in our throats: Am I just hot or do I have a fever? Has anyone else taken their temperature a million times each day?  (asking for a friend....) Did that person REALLY just sneeze on me???  Do I have the COVID Virus? Many more I know, but let's get to the music! Brilliant, right? As with most Barenaked Ladies songs, the tune gets stuck on your head. ...

What a race! The Flowers Sea Swim , a very well done event, this year is the 27th year it has been going! I trained a long time for this, since January. All through training, I simply wanted to just be able to swim a full mile without stopping. And at the start, I realized just how hard that would be. But, after months of training, I knew I could swim that far, even if I did stop to get the mouthful of water out of my mouth, or massaged a cramp, or slowed to get a better look at the fish. So the day came, and I wanted to swim it faster than I had in every training session. I was excitedly nervous. The weather was beautiful, even if a bit hot. The ocean was calm and a few clouds gave us some relief from the sun sometimes. Me and my numba! Never so proud to wear J16! Especially after I got my number painted on me! I felt so good, actually, with that number on. It was official now. Now, I just had to stash my stuff - they had a shuttle to take our stuff to the finish line....

Source I love to sing to songs. In the kitchen....in the car....even a little bit when I am on my walks with my headphones on. (I sometimes even look around to make sure no one can hear me....sometimes.....) When this classic Pearl Jam song came on the radio one day when I was in the car with my son driving, I said, "Oh Pearl Jam, I like this song!" Source sodahead.com And because he was driving I could sing along with even more focus and enthusiasm! When it started, I quickly remembered that THIS was the song that was THE WORST mumbling that Eddie Vedder did. (He did mumble regularly, and at the same time became known for his distinctive and powerful vocals....) I garbled through the song, belting out whatever I thought he was saying, mostly making up the words really. After a short time, I thought it best to hum, and my son wholeheartedly agreed. Imaging then, when I found the video with the lyrics! I could sing right along!! Join me, sing along!! No, ...

It's here. October 15th. Half way through the month. Been so in incredibly busy, worn myself out almost every day trying to finish up business at our downtown location and figure out our next steps. Somehow, I still have managed to get some running and walking in. Plus, helping me achieve my NaBloWriMo goals, it gives me great motivations for writing. Looking at the summary of the month, I can hardly believe it.  31.31 miles. 6.55 total hours. 2,966 calories! So, I guess it was okay that I ate some cupcakes (even though they didn't turn out like I planned ), treated myself with some ice cream with chocolate syrup and walnuts, ate pizza (too much), and attacked those sour cream and onion chips.  Imagine if I had eaten a little better! I believe I can start thinking I will break that plateau, well I did break it but the wrong way, I gained weight, and maybe lose a little weight. Tentative Scale Calibration photo courtesy of Raige Creations It does...

For me, it is hard to find a good recipe I can follow directly. I scoured the internet for chicken and dumpling recipes, but wasn't satisfied with any I found. For one, hubby can't have milk or cream, so that ruled out half of them. Second, I didn't happen to have any biscuit mix and I wasn't about to go to the store at 7:30am to get some. Besides, growing up in the 1970's I have had my fill of Bisquick . (my mother didn't use flour at all that I can remember, only Bisquick .) So I found if I took ideas from these recipes, and tweaked them to suit our needs and tastes, I could create my own perfect homestyle meal, and make my own comfort food recipe.  I love slow cooker meals ( I have raved about them before ). There is nothing better than coming home from work with dinner ready. No stress for me and a wonderful meal to enjoy with the family.  For this meal you will need: Big Ass Chicken One whole Chicken (I got a big ass chicken from Sams Club) salt ...

Today is the day of the drawing! BUT  you still have a chance.... Enter HERE You could win this!! Drawing will be at 2pm Eastern time....so you still have time!!!