Raige Creations

It used to be the norm. Change of season = Onset of the Common Cold . But now that my kids are older, well not even kids anymore, we don't get sick regularly anymore. I love this aspect of children growing older, by the way. click for source Used to be me and the boys got strep throat ever few months when they were little. They were prone to it and without fail every time they got it, I got it. Hubby and daughter didn't seem to be affected, but me and the boys - every damn time. And the colds, we got those every other month! Kids in school = Colds every other month. And I don't even want to tell the story of that stomach flu they brought home from school. Let's not go there. (Besides that it hit every one of us 5 days  before Christmas the one year that I was hosting a huge, like 20 people over, family Christmas. That goes in the books as THE WORST .) As they kids grew and went off to college, we noticed seasonal colds, flus, sore throats, etc virtually wer...

from Pinterest via http://paleoaholic.com/ My mind was the one that had the bright idea to try the early morning Cross Fit class. I knew I had to do it, get back to seriously exercising, but I was afraid. I had not been to Cross Fit since the end of May. Two WHOLE MONTHS. Plus, I did very little in the way of any other exercise. I stopped getting up early for run/walks. I hardly walked on the beach. Swim? Nope. Kayak? Once. Eat? Hell yeah! I ate. I ate pizza, fried fish with French fries (yumm), and more pizza, had cookies, pies, ice cream. I even broke down and had a Wendy's burger with French fries (yummm). (I LOVE French fries) Ugh. By yesterday, after polishing off half a pie in 2 days, I was downright feeling fat, disgusted with myself. Now, I DID enjoy everything I ate. I made sure to. I knew all along it would catch up with me. And yesterday it did. I felt like I was rolling down the hallways at work, sloshing around the house. When I sat I felt like Jabb...

Not often enough do we say it. I started this blog last night, thinking how thankful I am, despite the all the stresses and unknowns. It was a very nice weekend, time spent with family relaxing and doing some fun stuff too, so this song seemed to be perfect. I WAS thankful, content. But then, this morning - not enough sleep is never a good way to start the day - I could feel the grumpies set in. I was in a foul mood. Then I remembered I was going to use this song. At first, I thought - No way, this does NOT fit today at all. I almost wrote it off completely, wasn't going to do a blog at all, but then I thought about the song. The questions in it suggesting we just be thankful. Why not? How bout it? How bout stopping eating when I'm full up How bout me enjoying the moment for once How bout remembering your divinity Well, how bout pushing the grumpies right out? How bout approaching the day with seeing things through eyes of gratitude instead of through the eye...

Sunrise 4-29-16 Apparently I only needed 6 hours of sleep last night. I was up at 4:30am. But, make the most of every situation, right? So when it started getting light, I popped out and put my feet in the cool sand, snapped a pic, and have high hopes this Friday, and weekend, are as spectacular as the view this morning.  At the same time, I know I will be getting tired, and know that when I am tired, the grumps set in. I may just want to hide this afternoon, kinda like this wee little froggie I caught in the banana plant.  Wee Little Froggie  Hiding Sunrises and hiding froggies.....could either be a great story of beauty and nature, or a tale of impending doom. It will be interesting to see how this Friday unfolds.

I have SO many thoughts going through my head these days! {it is even interrupting my sleep, which is not really common for me usually, but this week it is !} It was hard to pick just one Thought of the Day, I have more than one huge thought plaguing me on a regular basis these days. I am currently going through my year end reports for the taxes, and am realizing what a tough year it has been. Change after change after change. When one thing wasn't working, I tried another, and then another. source: behappy.me As disappointing is was to see on paper just how difficult the year has been, at least I gave it my all and kept trying.  Plus, I have been confronted with a coming year full of other big changes.  A new chapter, I like to think.  {Someday, I  will  write a book, and there  really will  be chapters.} But these changes are daunting , kind of scary, and are making us examine the past 10 years of our lives. At times, it doesn't seem ...

I so thought I would feel better this morning. I was so wrong. The alarm went off at 6am (I forgot to turn off the alarm after we got the call that school was cancelled for today ) and I felt like my head was about to explode. I felt completely terrible! Thank goodness I could turn it off and try to get more sleep. I grabbed the end of the toilet paper roll ( we are out of tissues .....) from the floor and began the cough, wipe nose, cough, blow nose sequence, all the while cursing the world. Two hours later, I woke up again feeling slightly better, but only better enough to get to the kitchen, start the coffee and take some medicine.  The coffee was good, and the medicine seemed to be helping because I managed to check all my emails and finish a feature blog and do some other promoting. I even managed to sweep the kitchen, tend to the birds, and take the meat out of the freezer for dinner. BUT, with each passing minute, I felt worse, and it seems grumpier and grumpi...

Sitting here on this chilly night, with snow on the ground from a 'mini' snowstorm that hit us today (so I had to go get son from school 2 1/2 hours early).  This is before the 'big storm' we are anticipating tomorrow through Thursday. We are passing the time watching the Olympics, feeling the chill more looking at the snow and ice, and keeping an eye on the scrolling school closings across the bottom of the screen. As of now, they haven't closed school. But son is anxiously awaiting the news ' School Closed Tuesday .' But the uncertainty is frustrating. Click here if you are having trouble viewing video. Will he stay or will he go? We will probably get a call at 6:13 am (the usual time the automated calling system gets to our number).  So I will be up anyways. But he may get to sleep in.  photo courtesy of volcanic Maybe I will get to go back to bed...we will see.....in the meantime we can at least enjoy The Clash . This indecision...

source My alarm just went off, (for the first time...I am a snooze button addict)   and I was glad that I could snuggle back in bed for 10 more minutes until it went off again. Just as I crawled back under the covers, the phone rang. Usually, a phone ringing at this time of morning (6:14 am) means only one thing - SCHOOL DELAY OR NO SCHOOL! I ran to the phone, somewhat irritated but somewhat happy with the thought of getting more sleep. Too late, missed the call.  Sitting anxiously on the couch in my PJ's, (which was just a tank top...brrrrr!!!) I waited for the voicemail to finish recording the recorded message and dialed excitedly to hear the good news. I hear this: Good morning. Although there are patches of lingering snow and ice throughout the county this morning, for the most part roads are okay. The worst conditions are in the Enka and Erwin District, so ONLY ENKA AND ERWIN schools will be on a 2-hour delay today, Thursday January 16, with no buses on ...

Yes, please. Someone Wake Me Up .  I can't believe how much I slept all weekend. Naps were frequent, if short, and actually I loved being so lazy ~ at first.  But I knew things had gone too far when I actually contemplated going to pick up the pizza in my pajamas. I had been in pajamas all weekend actually. Well, not the same ones, I did shower Saturday, but put on new pajamas. So Sunday night, when I actually considered going out in my PJ's, I knew something was off. This morning, I was well on my way to another day of PJ's and couch time, dozing off at 8:30am! What the heck is wrong with me? (I like to blame an evil couch, it has this effect on many that come to our house.) I knew this rabbit hole I was going down was not going to be full of adventure , it very well could become a downward spiral . I had to brake the cycle! I decided against a run (again - been several days now, but that is another thing that is 'off', still figuring that out). I sho...

I know there are a gazillion websites and blogs that talk about the greatness of running. I read them too. But since I have started running again, after my 3 month break, I have learned some valuable life lessons .  Each lesson is great for running, but can be translated into every-day life as well. I will be sharing these life lessons with you while training  for the  Jingle Bell Run , which I am participating in on December 7th. ( Donate HERE ). Today we talk about sleep. How important is rest? The Sleep. Last week I talked about how I happily I went out for my first run in my new shoes , excited to get in a great run! But i t wasn't a great run, and I walked quite a bit. Not the energizing workout I wanted, but at least m y legs didn't hurt. But why was it so bad? Well, the night before, I only got a total of 6 hours of sleep ~ split into two 3 hour sessions with a 4 hour awake time in between.  Basically I fell asleep on the couch (a common thing for m...

source: Tea Time With Tess Oh yes, last night, Saturday night, was awesome!  I had a great day, first of all. I did a, ' get it off my chest' kind of  blog , which was so fun to do, and actually quite therapeutic. Then hubby and me went to an auction for the most fun shopping ever. Yes, you still experience buyers remorse, but at least you beat out that guy in the front who really wanted it! "One dollar bid, now two, now two, will ya' give me two? Two dollar bid, now three, now three, will ya' give me three?", "Going once, going twice, sold!" Then we came home looking forward to a nice evening with the kids, who, by the way, cooked us an awesome 'breakfast for dinner' dinner. (I love my kids, if you haven't heard me say if before....) The next thing I remember is waking up off the couch, mouth completely dry from apparently drooling all over a couch pillow, and mumbling something like 'Em goin ta bed' and stumbl...

'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...

Why did I get up so early today? Since we moved the business out of its downtown location, and I no longer have to work 6 days a week, including all weekend long, I have completely enjoyed sleeping in on Saturdays. I do still wake up, but the freedom of not having to get up, going back to sleep....ahhhh. There is nothing quite like it. But today, alarm went off the normal weekday time. I got up by 6:30 am (yes, I like to press snooze for an excessive amount of time), made coffee, fed the animals, the normal morning routine. WHY? My youngest son had to meet his drivers ed teacher at 7:30am! photo courtesy of   Travelers Point . Yup. It has happened.  All of my children are now drivers . I now have to dispense the advice that has been handed down from my father .    My youngest is now on the road. He took the class, and now is out there with all those other crazy drivers . I honestly don't know if I can handle sitting in the car with him while h...

12:01 photo from ClipArtETC 12:01. That's what the microwave said when I went into the kitchen to get a glass of water. 12:01 a.m. I had been laying in bed for about an hour. This, after being woken up from the couch to go to bed because we have another very big day tomorrow. We spent the day packing and organizing the shop downtown.  My business, Blue Rage of Asheville , had a good run in its 8 College St. address.  After a very hard summer, and saying so many times I couldn't count, ' There has to be a better way' , the time had come to let this location go, and go find the the better way. 8 x 10 print by The Love Shop on Etsy I spent all week carefully packing the fragile inventory, making sure all the consignors picked up their inventory, taking pictures of displays, dealing with banks, utilities, etc. Over 30 boxes, and probably 20 pieces of furniture and displays, and oh yes, the track lights and drop down lights, all packed up. Still more to do...

These thoughts occurred to me today: I cannot help me to the detriment of you and I cannot help you to the detriment of me It also occurred to me I am guilty of both. This is a fine line we all walk - helping others and helping ourselves. It is an ever shifting line, and often we get all tangled up in that line.  It came to my attention that my walks and runs, ever increasing in length and exertion, have taken a small toll on the dog. She seems always starving when it's dinner time. I know, she is a dog and always wants what we are having, but lately her demeanor is urgent. Her vibes are - 'I am SO hungry ... I WANT WHAT YOU ARE MAKING'. So much so I am tripping over her as I prepare dinner!  Also, she no longer pulls me on our walks, well unless a squirrel runs in our path. She walks right beside me, even lags sometimes. That is until we make the turn around to come home, then she is out front again. And today, she looked downright miserable by the time...

I missed stargazing the other morning. Apparently there was a meteor shower in the early morning on Sunday, but I slept right through it.  They said it would seem that the meteors  come from the Club of the famous constellation Orion the Hunter . I don't think I even know where that is in the sky. But still, I love star gazing, and when we can be shown an even more spectacular bright fireballs and persistent trains it is worth seeing. Maybe next month we can see the next round of meteors decorating the sky. There are opportunities to see meteors at least every month.  Until then, we will gaze at Andrew Wood - an influential and inspiring musician who burned bright and faded far too soon. 

I am much too old to stay up until 2:30 am and get up at 6:00 am. But that is just what I did Monday night. Why? Probably one of the most common reasons people cannot sleep. Stress. I had tried to relax after working my 6th day in a row, avoided turning on my computer when I got home. I just watched the boob tube until my brain finally quieted down and I dozed off on the couch. But then ~ midnight rolled around and on my way to bed from the couch it hit me! I HAD SO MUCH TO DO!! Thus my brain and body said - NO SLEEP FOR YOU . I mindlessly did the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, the tried to find my brain and write all of my 'to-do's on the message board. Then I felt compelled to turn on my computer, and I printed off the past 4 months of bank statements and proofed some graphics and worked on my blog.   Finally, I forced myself to bed at 2:30 am.  The alarm going off at 6:00 am hurt. But I got up and did the normal morning rituals, except in a slight dream like state. B...