Raige Creations

It is so hard to know how to feel during all this. This Pandemic . COVID-19. The novel coronavirus , or 'rona as I saw in one funny meme on the internet. What a strange time. But that really doesn't describe it with any justice. It is so hard to put in to words. And by the time I try to get something down to describe it, the mood swings swiftly in the opposite direction. I have really been struggling with such swinging emotions, feelings that change from perfectly calm and settled to extreme panic, fear. Then being okay, then worrying. Then active and feeling healthy to lazy and feeling like doing nothing, while having a Kit Kat, then so happy to be in a safe place to going stir crazy. From wanting to laugh to wanting to scream. So in today's Thursday Thought of the Day, there is no one thought. It is all thoughts, ever changing. I mean, how do you process going to the bank these days? Last week, the last time I went in to a bank, there was maybe a new hand sani...

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...

Motivation. It is hard, yo. Especially to get out the door, and drive to have a swimming workout. from teespring.com It is not uncommon for me to have major motivational problems to do this. Especially when my coach (hubby) says he is not up for going with me. I sit and battle with myself that I really SHOULD go, but don't want to ~ it takes so much preparation to go. Both physically and mentally. These help, a little gift I got myself - I LOVE these goggles. He usually says, after I whine about the struggle to him, ' Just go if you're gonna go !'  His way of motivating. Gee, thanks coach . I guess it is somewhat effective. I have this struggle nearly every time I plan to go for a swim workout, so I often go to Pinterest for motivation, as one does. Usually, it works: his words in my head and reading all the motivational things I find.  This made me think about the whole process that makes it so hard to do. To get ready: put in contacts. put on sui...

From The Tattooed Buddha via FB The weekend started good. Early, on Friday, as it was a public holiday here. I chilled. I ate, and chilled and ate and chilled. It was a lovely relaxing day, even if I felt a little guilty for it. Source - Purple Clover via FB Then Saturday, yesterday, started out similar. Chill, but I did have to get some groceries, so knew I had to go to town. I struggled a bit with the decision to skip the beach workout, but ultimately the logic of avoiding hoards of campers won. Yes, camping on the beach Easter weekend is a big thing here. No beach workout. So just grocery store. Easy-peasey. I had to get in before lunch, as I knew it would be crowded. So that is what I did. As usual on an island the store was missing a few things on the list, but I knew I could get at the other store near my house. So after recovering from the morning chaos shopping, aka took Saturday's Chill Pill, I headed out in my old car. I had just had the a/c fixed in th...

This song is on my 'Mom's Run Playlist - Fun' (as opposed to the 'Race' one or the plain one with a whole heap of songs that really aren't good to run to....) .  I added it when my kids let me know about this AWESOME tool to make any YouTube video a file you can put on your (or on my hand-me-down) ipod, otherwise known as MP3 file . I went on a bit of a  binge on YouTube of  80's music, and that is how this made the list. It actually has a good running beat! (much to the surprise of hubby that I would put ANY Rod Stewart song on a running playlist...needless to say, he is not a fan.) So I was running, and at this point in the run I was concentrating on the words (it was hot, and I was tired). I remembered this song from my teenage years, where some of the lyrics were inspring to a young mind, who was a bit bored with the suburban life, and dreamed of more exciting things to come. Like this line: "Young hearts be free tonight. Time is on yo...

Two weeks in a row, my Mondays have been "cursed." I won't go in to the details of last week, let's just say just when I though things couldn't get worse, well they did. (I mean, a car accident in the middle of that bad day wasn't even the worst.....bad stuff kept happening!!!) Thankfully last week ended 100 times better than it started, so I wasn't even worried this morning. Until..... I did my normal morning routine, get the coffee pot ready and sit down and check emails (and of course FB to 'see what was going on the "world"')  while it was brewing. After 10 minutes, I realized I didn't hear the usual gurgling from the coffee maker. Yup, didn't turn the damn thing on. Annoying at best, I had not though much more of it. Then, while getting ready for work, I was sipping coffee. Yes, in the bathroom, which I have already heard is a " no-no ", " unsanitary ", " you know better ", etc. B...

This great reminder helped me get out of bed yesterday. A wonderful quote from my hubby, knowing I was grumpy and overwhelmed with life, as has been the Modus Operandi these days.  I was having a difficult time finding the motivation to get up and start yet another day of stress, worry, uncertainty, and  chores. Who wants to get out of bed for that? But he wisely reminded me we have a goal, we have something to look forward to. And we are one day closer to getting there. Some days, he knows just the right thing to say.

Handblown glass has always intrigued me, the process being one that looks incredibly difficult to me. Not to mention the heat and danger associated with this art form. Even calling it an artform can be a cause for debate, because of it's functional capabilities and scientific knowledge that is necessary to make even the simplest and most functional pieces. But creativity has a major role in it as well and that cannot be discredited in the final piece.  Without going into too much history, debate, or critiques, I want to share some of the very beautiful creations my daughter got the chance to make as part of her senior project needed for graduation this upcoming year.  The snake (in the front above is a zig zag of glass with a curious head)  is what they start with, in the torch class, to get a hang of working with glass. Then the pendant, just above the snake here, where she got to add color.  All work done in this class was done with a torch. The Hot Sh...