Raige Creations

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 - 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.

Yes, we did it. We got  a pup. Or should I say toddler. He is a doggy toddler. We named him Biko. He is a rescue doggy, and it has been quite the journey so far. I keep reminding myself of The 3's - 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months .  It has proven to be true and helpful to remember the stages. We are approaching the 3 months soon, so of course I had to do a Music Monday with the inspiration song, even though I mentioned on FB that because he chewed my laptop charger, a sock of mine, a bra of mine, hubby's earbuds, my running shoes, and now countless toy ducks in less than 10 minutes, he didn't deserve mention. But here I am, dedicating a blog to the loving and quite gentle, though energetic, coconut loving, Boxer-Pit-Something else mix, Biko. Named after a Youtube music listening session and going through a long list of names. We thought Biko was a good fit. He is a rescue, and was abused, and had a skin irritation. We took him in when others just couldn't. Biko roll...

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.

We had a nice break. Took a vacation and ended up in Durham, NC. We splurged and stayed at a great hotel, 21c Museum Hotel Durham . Found an art fair unexpectedly and just wandered and enjoyed. I love being a bit spontaneous like that. And coming across a great performance by the Silver Drummer Girl . A really great art fair. A really great trip. Some very enjoyable time with family. A nightmare of a trip back, but glad we went. The nightmare is a long story that I may never tell, but let's just say I started feeling like the character Victor Nevorski in a good movie, The Terminal . We were stuck in the airport for more than 12 hours, wandering and waiting. I lost hubby for a good hour and a half. He doesn't have a cell phone, so you can imagine how hard it is to find someone in a sea of people with a pesky security department separating you most of the time as it turned out. But, we did make the best of it after all and decided more breaks are a necessity. Bu...

Boy, did I jam. For the past week I have knocked out gobs of jam. I have even had days where I made 2 batches in one day! (which is a lot harder than it sounds, especially when you are making at least a batch a day.) With still plenty of mangoes to do more. It is why I haven't blogged much lately. I have been too busy cutting mangoes and measuring sugar and squeezing limes and mixing, and mixing, and, mixing, and mixing. Jam. And plenty more to make more. And of course I made some juice too, so jamming and juicing. So it should be no surprise if asked what I have been up to, well, JAMMING mon. Thus, there is no other song that has been going through my head. I found this video that also has the Spanish lyrics, which  me encanta ! (Have I mentioned I want to learn Spanish? I do. But that is another story. ) Cupboard Full of Jam.  Ooh, yeah! All right! We're jammin' I wanna jam it with you We're jammin', jammin' And I ...

It has been very hard for me to blog lately. I have started writing, thinking it would be therapeutic, but then it just hurt too much. It started really with a big life change, a sudden instability, uncertainty in my life. About 3 weeks ago. Then, a random terrible thing about 2 weeks ago. (A garbage truck smashed into a parked vehicle of ours in front of our house. Cue fighting with insurance company, about the worst thing to have to do.) Then a certain uncertainty. My life was truly upended. I was raw, hurting, lost. I just could not bear even writing about it. About anything. Then hubby showed me the news. Last week it was the environment. Las Vegas and the  grasshopper swarm , Greenland's Ice sheet melting . Biblical levels of scary shit. My nerves were fragile. I really could not bear writing. Then,  the shootings . Last week, California was terrible. Last Saturday, El Paso was horrific, I was glued to the TV in shock. I even sent my kids each a messag...

Along the lines of healthy eating, fresh herbs from the garden , and keeping busy in the kitchen, I am sharing some further busyness I have had in the kitchen. First, we found these GREAT herb cutting scissors . If anyone shares my dislike of chopping fresh herbs, these are for you. Lots of cutting edges with one cut. THE BEST herb chopping scissors I always had rosemary pop across the counter when I chopped it with a knife, and it felt like it took forever to chop the mint and basil, and to get the leaves in line for cutting a whole other struggle. These scissors make it, dare I say, fun to chop up, or cut up, the herbs. Gather herbs and put on the scissor blades and cut. Then keep cutting. I lay the scissors on their side and keep cutting the pile of herbs until it gets the desired chopped-ness. I think I go a little crazy these days with using the herbs and cutting them up. I do it nearly every other day. But what yummy results! Tomato Cucumber Salad, with fresh cut he...

If you are like me, I see all kinds of hypothetical pictures or memes meant to make us think, encourage, or help us be more thankful, or even provoke some emotions (good and bad). I may even have shared some of these questions, as sometimes they do help us see things in a different way, help us examine things we may not have done before. But sometimes, they do get tiresome. Or are even ridiculous. And sometimes we are just sick and tired of it all. So I found this brilliant. What if there were no hypothetical questions?  And now the loop of hypothetical questions is complete.

I have been so lazy this weekend. Some would say that is what weekends are for, but after two days of lazing about - I took Friday off to get a good long weekend in with Monday being a holiday - this morning I was feeling like I HAD to do something. I decided I just had to get a little bit busy in the kitchen. Hot pepper vinegar ingredients, vinegar not pictured. I got to cutting up some carrots and onions for our long planned hot pepper vinegar. We have been planning it for weeks. We have what are supposed to be ghost peppers   - my MIL planted and then left with us to tend while she is away. They have been getting bigger and turning from green, to orange, to a deep hot red color. Watching the hot peppers get redder and redder We have watched as day by day the get redder and redder, somewhat anxiously. Ghost peppers are supposed to be the 2nd hottest peppers on earth. The  deep burning red hot color perhaps an indication that these things are dangerously hot. Th...

I asked for suggestions, and a great cousin of hubby's said she was listening to  Led Zeppelin  yesterday. This request led to an evening of the band for me and hubby last night, and nearly all day streaming the band at work, until I found one that spoke to me, that fit. This one does, more or less . But seriously, so many good songs to choose from. So many! So many that brought back memories of my brother . He was the one who first introduced me to this band. Through his closed bedroom door. He was a musician, a true connoisseur of good rock music. So many hubby had stories about. He knows stories of the band members, and he introduced me to The Song Remains The Same movie . If you have a couple hours, check it out! It is worth it, I believe. The concert was at Madison Square Gardens, this video a part of it. They put on a great show, excellent musicians. And, story from hubby, Robert Plant didn't even realize he was rubbing his fingers through most of the concer...

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....