Raige Creations

When it came to decorating the tree this year, there came a load of emotions and memories. It was the first year I decorated the tree without the kids. They are all out of the house now, and it is just hubby and me for the holidays this year. A quiet house this year, unlike almost every other one we have had since we were married. ( Here is one from several years ago, boy did we decorate then!) It used to be that he brought the live tree in and got it in the holder and made sure it was straight, and then his job was done. He never actually puts one on the tree, unless it was that crazy spinning cow above the tree the kids loved when they were little, or the octopus star that one year.  He generally he finds other things to do while the decorating is going on, and this year was no different. Just paying attention from the sidelines, when he wanted to add comments to my reminiscing and laughing and nod and agree to my ' aww look how cute ' comments.  Christmas 2020 That is some...

I always thought a note in a lunch was a fun way to let the kids know I was thinking of them, and that they should smile, or have a good day, or have fun, etc. I even leave notes for my hubby to find throughout the day, just for fun. But I never thought my little notes were anything more than a little written hug - to be enjoyed at that moment, and then tossed away. They were often messy, on scrap paper, I mean nothing fancy here.  Sometimes, I ( try to ) draw a little something, but the 'talented artist' gene is not with me. Usually my signature ' happy face with a curl ' is all they get.  Never did I think they were worth saving. I never meant them to be saved, actually. It was always meant for a quick reminder, to be thrown out with the lunch bag. I never had anything profound to say, just a ' hey I love ya! ', or a ' Enjoy your day ', or ' SMILE ', or something like that. When my daughter moved back home after college, I had the chance again ...

It is never a bad way to end the weekend, watching The Big Lebowski . That we did, for the I don't know how many-eth time. We have seen it a lot. (Plus a little Monty Python , always a good time for that really.) But now back to work from my completely do nothing vacation, well staycation really. Honestly, I did a little more than nothing, but not much. I hardly cooked, didn't go anywhere but the grocery store, did minimal laundry (that still needs to be folded). I sat on the couch most of the time. I successfully lounged and read several kindle fun books. So this is a nice way to ease in to tackeling my work emails, a nice tune from Bob Dylan . (website here if you want to get lost in Bob ) Besides hubby requested it, and it is kinda nice to hear him sing along, even if he is immitating Bob, he is a bit better than Bob. But, if I have to play it again, and read him the lyrics, having heard him say one too many times 'What is that he said there?' , I may ...

A wonderful memory that came back to me, thanks to my sister. Our Dad playing this song throughout our childhood, a memory of his from his teenage and young man years. Our dad was a musician, among other things . His mother a piano and organ teacher, back when jobs for the wives and mothers were unusual unless in times of economic need. Which was the case back during the Great Depression, when my father was a teenager. She taught him the skills, and he was a very decent pianist and organist. She taught us too, when we were little. Though I never practiced like I should have, and it was evident during my lessons. I think I was 5 years old or so. No surprise there that practicing was never long enough or serious enough. There were too many other things to keep me occupied when I was that age, like the fish tank that was right near the piano. Hard to stay focused on boring scales when little fish-ies were so much more interesting. But this song was a favorite of our dad. He pl...

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...

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...

A surprise suggestion, this song was. I asked a friend-who-is-family for some ideas, as I wanted to do a Music Monday this week, but was having trouble picking a song. Just didn't have any that felt right at the time. So this friend, who by the way is someone we (hubby first actually) 'met' online. Communicated for quite a while before actually meeting in person. But you just know when you click with someone and we are going on over 8 years of friendship, I believe, though it feels like we have known each other forever. She has been a wonderful addition to our extremely small circle of friends. She is 'auntie' to my kids, she is who I vent to almost on a daily basis via messages, she is always willing to listen unconditionally. And that, my dear readers, is hard to find these days. She became family. Source So after complaining I was not inspired by any songs, she said she would see what songs came on over dinner with her Mama, and give me some ideas. Her Ma...

Do you ever have days where you feel like you're just one puzzle piece short? Just not quite all there, not quite finished, so close, yet so far? And then you just can't FIND that last piece! We had that day two days ago. And are plagued by it. We were coming along nicely on the puzzle . The one we started 2 weeks before, with inspiration from my recent trip . We worked together on it, and were having a great time. As we got closer, the more excited we were to be done. Nearly Done! photo courtesy of Raige Creations And when all that was left was the flowers, we noticed that one pesky hole was left in the upper right. What the heck happened to that last piece? No clue. Did it come missing one? Did one get thrown away with the bag the pieces came in, I really don't think so. Where is that confounded last piece?!?! photo courtesy of Raige Creations We looked under couches, tables, in the laundry basket, pockets of clothes we thought we may have worn and ...

It was a long work week this week. After the emotional  last few weeks, I had to be knee deep in year end reports. Ah the financial world. Though there is some satisfaction when the spreadsheets balance, it is often a long road to that point. Add to that, there has been no exercise for the last 3 WEEKS! Yes, that is correct. 3 friggin weeks. And it wasn't like I was eating carefully either. It seems when one goes out the window, the other follows. My lame and completely wrong justification,  "Well I am not working out anyways....so why not have those fries, and yes I may as well have another cookie while I am at it!" It was thus proved I have NO willpower. At all. None. And I was feeling really crappy about it. The evidence is, I ate 2 boxes of my favorite Girl Scout Cookies in 2 weeks. No willpower. At all. Had them for dinner one night. Feeling like big fat crap. My kryptonite, I don't care if they are called Caramel DeLites or Samoas , I am too weak to...

What a whirlwind weekend last weekend was. Full of swirling emotions, travel, old friends, family I hadn't seen since I was a kid! All culminating in Buffalo, or BFLO in these days of acronyms. A lovely gift from my cousin, I have been wearing it every day. I love the little jingle the buffalo's make when I move my arm. I arrived to town for my brother's memorial service . He had suddenly passed away 2 weeks prior, and it was last weekend when the memorial service was scheduled. I arrived to my cousin's place, I will call her Host Cousin, late in the evening, trying to prepare for the potential turmoil of the weekend. But to my surprise and delight, her place was nothing but a haven of peace and tranquility. I was immediately drawn to her dining room table. A puzzle!  A puzzle! I was drawn to it and found it strangely calming. Now, my mother used to do puzzles. Or maybe not 'do' them but, had them out and in progress to mess with in the off c...

I can be friendly and outgoing. I sometimes thoroughly enjoy conversations with strangers. Sometimes I keep my head down and try to avoid any conversations with strangers at all. I have even been known to be frowning in the grocery store to avoid someone saying something to me. Other women seem to regularly strike up conversations with me in the grocery store...I think the place I live is just filled with friendly people, or do other people regularly strike up conversations with strangers about what is on the shelves in the grocery store? Or it could be that they are interpreting me talking to myself as me trying to strike up conversation with them. That could be it. But many a conversation has happened, about beans, ground lamb, chips, produce the most. from brooklybackroom.com buy here Another time, we actually had someone ask my hubby if he was Mormon in a home improvment store. We were chatting about gardening and garden lights, and she was very nice, but you could t...