Raige Creations

Grateful. Thankful. It is said if we acknowledge what we are thankful for regularly it will make us happy. If we write down what we are grateful for we live a more fulfilled life. Lately, I am thankful for a good murder mystery. Who doesn't love a good murder mystery? Or is it just me? Source Reading, of course. I mean reading good, fictional murder stories. Though I am slightly fascinated by stories of serial killers, but that is another tangent, and lately I just like a good book that has a murder mystery to solve. I have been gobbling up suspense and mystery books lately. With the 'rona and being stuck on this rock I have been lucky enough to call home during it all, reading has kept me away from the news, which is a different kind of scary , and allowed me room to see different worlds and times all from the comfort of my couch. I have read mystery after mystery. Very light reading, most of them mildly predictable, but humorous and entertaining. This author , I like. I have...

Grateful. Thankful. It is said if we acknowledge what we are thankful for regularly it will make us happy. If we write down what we are grateful for we live a more fulfilled life. I will try to get back to my thankful posts , lord knows we need some more positive things to hear about these days.  So today I am thankful for turtles, and my job.  Perhaps a short explanation is in order. First, my job.  I had a high paying job that I traded for a job I am passionate about . I am truly thankful for that, even if it did mean a hefty pay cut.  I am so challenged and busy in this current job, but I really like it, and love the variety of things that go on. For instance, what other kind of finance and HR job will you come across a bucket full of turtles ?  Our team of turtle monitoring people brought this bucket in to the office the other day. The intent was to give it to my boss, as she lives near the beach where these little guys were stranded in their nest. The inte...

I shouldn't feel lazy, right? I shouldn't give myself a hard time for my unproductive behavior. I keep telling myself this, but we are our own worst critics, aren't we? We all are going through strange times. Our lives have abruptly changed. There is stress, worry, anxiety, and rules. Harsh rules. I am not allowed out and about from 7pm to 5am every day. Only from 5 am to 7 pm can we venture out. And even then there are further restrictions. Sundays I am not allowed to leave my yard at all. I am allowed to leave my house to exercise for 90 minutes daily during the hours mentioned above - except Sundays. I am allowed to go to the grocery store, gas station, or liquor store { yes they are essential apparently } only on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays. They split the alphabet and the first half can go those days, the 2nd half can go the other day, you have to show your ID to get in the store. I will be arrested or fined if I break any of these rules. I am working...

As if I was actually writing a book.....I am not..... but still consider it a new chapter that has just begun, even if only metaphorically speaking. A new chapter in my little book of life. Source: Pinterest I have embarked on a new adventure, I have embraced the magic of new beginnings. I started a new job. It is a job I really wanted, and was so happy to get. Though, driving in the first day, I was...well there is no one word the word for the feelings. I felt so many things: I felt a little worn out, like ' Here I go again having to start over '. Then switched to ' I am starting something exciting .' Then felt ' How strange to have this new start, excitement like I was just out of college starting a new life '. Then the doubts. ' Can I really do well at all the many and varied aspects of this position? Some I have not done in a long, long time, and some not quite to the depths that is required of this position! Can I really do this? ' Th...

Source Funny how you start thinking of time, how fast it goes by and things like that, when you are celebrating 26 years of marriage. We celebrated that milestone yesterday. The talk was mainly - ' wow, we have spent over half our lives together ' - and things like that. Also - ' It hasn't always been easy, but here we are ' - and things like that. Because it isn't easy. Life isn't always easy. Sometimes it is darn hard. But, we stuck it out thus far, and being that some of those darn hard times were more than darn hard, we figure we may as well stick it out another 26 years or so. Overall, we would say we have lived our lives together pretty well. And are looking forward to many years to come, living pretty well. Life, if well lived, is long enough.

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....

This song brings back memories of Easter and church for me. It was played many Easters at our church when I was growing up. My father was the organ player, and I loved to hear him play this in practice at home, and then again at church. When I heard it playing Cat Sevens version on the radio, I loved it. A church song playing on the radio - how cool. I was then, and still am, a Cat Stevens fan . I was a kid then, I thought AM radio was cool. I still do actually - it WAS cool back in the 70's. Whatever it takes to bring the idea to the masses that we should give thanks. It was said by the editor of the hymnal it was first published in (In 1931) that:  " there was need for a hymn to give thanks for each day ." There IS a need to give thanks each day. A habit I have been trying to keep up with. So give thanks, even though it is Monday. Give thanks that we have..... beautiful music , sunshine , rainfall , wind , chocolate (I am sure you all have...

Yes. I can say that with confidence - I am thankful for my grey hair and wrinkles. And slightly large middle section (I call fluffy), and scars. Most days anyways. Actually most days I barely think of it. It is what it is. source However - yesterday I found out how other people see me. Well at least one other person. I was at the hair salon, waiting to get a much needed haircut. I had not taken one bit of time to do anything with my hair that day, so it was a bit wild and and frizzy. I ended up chatting with someone who I barely knew (met her almost 6 months ago, and hadn't seen her since). We were chatting about, well, hair. She, I will call her ' D ', had just that day decided not to get highlights in her hair, she was letting the grey show, and seemed quite proud of her decision. D 's justification and story about what led her to this point was long, and unecessary in my opinion, but I let her go on. She was waiting for her 15 year old son to f...

It had been over 2 weeks since I did any real exercising. And a particularly tedious week at work. On Friday morning I was sitting on the back porch enjoying a cup of coffee looking forward to getting off work early (we get done a half hour earlier on Fridays) and coming home to relax, put the week behind me and get in to enjoying our house. Then I remembered. I had signed up for the 26th annual  St Patricks Day 5k Irish Jog. It was after work. Not enough time for me to come home to change, had to bring my gear in and change at work and go. I was bummed! The thought of having to stay in town, and then go 3.14 miles, after such a week, and when I was looking forward to just hanging out, chillin'. BUMMER. But I had committed to it. I wasn't so bummed that I would blow it off. So I packed my bag. Workout pants, shirt, socks, shoes, ponytail holder, hat, tom tom runner, headphones and hand-me-down ipod. As I was packing, the bummer feeling lifted and I realized t...

Beautiful random music brought on by the wonderful nature of wind. I love windchimes. We love windchimes, hubby, kids and me. They are beat up, sure, but looks hardly matter when they fill the air with such beautiful sounds. Our old place, 2 places ago, we hung our windchimes up and enjoyed the beautiful music. For about a week. Then, our upstairs neighbor complained to the managment company about them and we were asked in no uncertain terms to take them down. What kind of crap was that? Seriously. I won't linger there on those negative thoughts and feeling. I don't want to harbour those things. I am so thankful that we have a better place to live now. One that has no such restrictions. I am so thankful that we have a windchime up now. And this weekend's project? Re-stringing a winchime. And emptying out the warehouse where 2 more project windchimes are. Nothing like the porchfull of winchimes we had more than 10 years ago, but a decent collection st...

I am so glad it is weekend. I have been looking forward to it since we moved in our place last week. So today, I thoroughly enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee. Then I decided I had put off walking/jogging for too long now. And oh yeah, I signed up for a 5k later this month....so really have to get back in shape for that. So off I went, excited to explore our new neighborhood. It is so quiet, little activity here and there. Very nice walking with a jog mixed in. Then I got to these trees. I stopped, and listened. Casuarina Pines. If you haven't been near Casurina Pines when the wind blows, you are missing out. They make the most beautiful sound. A sort of whoosh sound, just so subtle and actually quite relaxing. It is like if you breathed out with your lips a little puckered to try to make a wind sound. These trees make it for you. As long as there is even a slight breeze, the sound of the wind is amplified through these trees and you are treated to a wonderful ...

Grateful. Thankful. It is said if we acknowlege what we are thankful for regularly it will make us happy. If we write down what we are grateful for we live a more fulfilled life. So here it goes. Today  - I am thankful for SPACE. We just moved, again. Sixth move in just over 3 years. We are now in a house. No more condo, no more apartment. We have a yard! I wander the house amazed there is so much space. Beautiful space. I have room to display things that have been boxed up for over 3 years. I have room to NOT walk in front of the TV while my son is playing. (and get him killed in his pow pow games). My son has his own room - with a spare room for when his siblings are home. No more sharing beds and air mattresses. We have a den! An extra space to allow hubby to make art, to make messes. I have room in the kitchen cupboards - actually empty shelves and drawers! I am not looking to fill this space with 'stuff' either. Nope, leave me room. Dont need 2 large fyi...

Merry Christmas to everyone and Joy to the World! I am glad Music Monday fell on Christmas this year, so that I could share with you a song that is sort of Christmassy, and plenty groovy. (I don't know about you but I am kind of sick of Christmas music...thank you Three Dog Night for spreading joy in a groovy way.)  Yesterday, I was so thankful Christmas Eve was a Sunday. You see, here where I am now, Sunday is a day where businesses are closed and it truly is a relaxing day. No running to the store, to pick up last minute things. No shopping till midnight, no grasping for that 'little something' you wanted to get. If you hadn't finished Saturday, you are out of luck. It is an adjustment, as living stateside you are accustomed to being able to shop on Sundays. Once you don't have that "luxury", you are forced to simply relax on Sundays. And it is a perfect way to spend Christmas Eve. Thus you get a Music Monday this week, as I have today to relax ...

I got to sleep in a little today, a nice Sunday, perfect for staying in bed a little long, just because. I got up a little after 7am, but I was feeling very guilty about not getting up earlier to go for a run/walk, or Wog (walk/jog) as I now like to call it. I was a little groggy, but got on my running gear, decided that coffee after the run would be better than before the run, got my Tom Tom Runner searching for a satellite, and turned the ipod on and headed out.  Photo By Charlesjsharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography, CC BY-SA 4.0,   The ' Go! ' beep went off on the Tom Tom  , so I started walking. Got on the road and I heard this banging on metal. Strange, but then I saw the culprit. A woodpecker , probably the one I saw in the Almond tree yesterday, was searching for food in the gutters. Cool. I decided to start to run, and after a little trouble getting going with all the thoughts going on in my head - the questioning o...