Raige Creations

Surprisingly, this song had the distinct effect of making my day...well....lovely.  I was driving to work one day last week, in heavy traffic. I have mentioned before , perhaps a few times , how bad traffic is. A normal 20 minute drive takes me 40 or 45 minutes during rush hours. I was getting more and more irritated, going 4 miles per hour, then 12, then 4, then stop. Oh, and excuse me I was leaving space between vehicles, not saying please cut me off.  Geeze. And then this song came on. Well, it was just a lovely song really. So mellow. It has quite a nice message too. I mean how sweet the lyrics are! Just lovely. By the time I got to work, it actually WAS a lovely day. No the traffic didn't get better. My mood did. I was noticeably in a better mood, humming along this quite , well frankly quite repetitive, song.  After so many lovely days you just start having a lovely day! Just goes to show you, we can change our moods and perspectives. Sometimes all it takes is...

 It had been raining for days and days.... Not that I was complaining. I love rainy days. And I don't mean a little rain and then back to normal sun. I mean grey, cool, rainy days. Whole days of clouds and rain. Days where you can just settle in and chill under a blanket.  Sadly I had to drive in and home from work during most of these days. Forgetting my rain coat, many a trip from car to building and back. But I didn't mind, a bit refreshing actually. And there is a beauty in rainy days.  Rainy View in Traffic And going in to work gave me some break from the news . Today I can breathe a little easier though, knowing some dignity can be restored to the world. I try not to bring my political views in to my public postings, but dang am I glad to be rid of the current POTUS. That's all I have to say about that.  From NOAA National Hurricane Center From  NOAA National Hurricane Center Saturday brought some heavy winds, and loads of rain, from TS Eta . We weren't ex...

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...

Yup. Hooked on this song apparently. I heard it on the radio driving in to town the other day. I cranked up the volume, and sang along as loud as I could. And then over the weekend it came up in conversation...can't remember that conversation now but I got to hear it again. And there it has been in my head, stuck. Every time I hear it, I want to sing it, and sing it loud. I like sing along songs, particularly since singing is good for you . Plus, both sing and dance are on this great list of advice for living. What a GREAT feeling that was in the car, though! There is something so liberating about singing alone in the car while your driving. I hadn't let loose like that since, well at least since before the lockdown . And honestly, I didn't let loose much before that because traffic was so bad people sitting in cars right next to me would have seen me blaring out the song and doing a little dance sitting behind the steering wheel and that would have just been we...

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....

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 can be a tough decision.  We can so easily be pulled out of a good mood, right? But decide, and stick with it. Decide to be in a good mood. I believe you find it is worth it.

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 ...

After a very active morning (a few weeks ago now...) - a 3 mile mostly walk with little jogs mixed in, 15 minute morning yoga routine, and a 30 minute yoga workshop (to help me step through Down Dog , which I can't do very well) - I sat there on my yoga mat deeply thinking. Thinking, " I am calm, it is a beautiful day really, and oh - a donut hole would be good!" and then I shared my desire for doughnut holes after all that good-for-me activity. I was struck first that I wanted to share such a thing. With whom, exactly, do I want to share these accomplishments mixed with signs of weakness? Facebook?? Really??? No, not really. I realized. I have purged my Facebook friends to mostly real friends and famlily (even if it is distant cousins I haven't seen since I was a kid and friends of whom some I haven't seen since High School, and creative friends that I have not met in person but feel a closeness with via venues like Facebook {which initself is quite stra...

Photo Courtesy of Raige Tea, those deliciously 'evil' hazelnut and chocolate sticks, and the chili stirring spoon makes for a lovely Sunday. It means all the chores were done by the time football starts. The laundry folded and put away, the dinner prepped (just stirring intermittenly throughout the afternoon), showered and in Sunday comfy clothes.  You might not understand the big deal of the Pirouline's  . These, once upon a time way back when we were a younger family who was content with enough to be able to treat ourselves with yummy treats and the time for tea, were our favorite. A very fancy to us, decadent treat we allowed ourselves when times were good financially. When we took the time to enjoy tea, sweets, and each other.  We then hit tougher times, busier times. We were working harder, for less rewards. We cut back, we skimped, we scraped by. No chocolate hazelnut goodness. No tea time.  Years went by living under these circumstances. We accepted...

" Dog Days Are Over " Florence and the Machine cover courtesy of  moshi moshi records Dog Days.  Are they over?  Well, depends on what you think of when you say that.  The dog days are frequently referencing the hottest days of summer. The days when not much is happening, lazy days of summer, etc.  ( source ) Other interpretations say that dog days are about nothing happening…progress stagnating. And the horses coming in? That could be about things moving forward, 'getting a move one'. The horse is about power, wealth, victory. It’s about success. ( source )       Florence and the Machine interpreted their song quite colorfully back in 2008. And then in 2010, came out with this less colorful one, more white with splashes of color. Though hubby disagrees with me on the meaning of dog days, I am sticking with my interpretation of this song:  The stagnant times are done, things are about to get going again....

Spiderman. In the upper left corner. Glaring at me everytime I am in the bathroom. Minions among other things. Looking over my shoulder every time I cook. These are the things my children leave me. And no, I do not have little children anymore. The are teens, all driving. Yet they still leave me stickers. Thank goodness for the little things that make me smile. What little things do your kids leave you - that make you smile? (not the little things that make you cuss, now, the ones that make you smile)

The true test of any relationship is the assembly of cheap-ass Chinese pressboard furniture. We have spent the last 20 years testing our relationship doing this. This Ikea furniture thing wasn't around back then like it is now, but I imagine it's the same kind of test. photo courtesy of George Takei on FB Monday was one of the more recent tests. When the day started, we had no idea we would end up putting together 5 big-ass displays, with no directions, but a memory of how they went together. We started out the day looking forward to spending it together. Normally a treat.  But as the day went on, after moving a huge amount of heavy furniture, (remember, we have been moving crap for the last 2 weeks....) after re-arranging our new booth at The Regeneration Station , and "disagreeing" over many, many things along the way, we were then tasked with putting together those Chinese made, pressboard displays with some very heavy parts. Keep in mind too, that we ha...

Second full day at home, doing home things, and I love it! I am much more relaxed today, in leggings and a big-ass old stained sweatshirt, and my fuzzy socks .  It is amazing what 2 days in a row off can do. For one, I got back to running. I took 2 days off this week, and could run more today than the last workout. Plus, I still have 5 days working out for the week.  Rest is good! Still 5 days on the calendar for the week! photo courtesy of Raige Creations (This is what I want my calendar to look like most of the time, between 4 and 5 workouts, walking or running, each week.) Believe it or not, this run today WAS relaxing for me today. There was no rushing, nothing plaguing my mind that I had to get done today (except for dinner, which I thankfully already have planned as Chicken and Noodles! recipe here ). Oh, and getting a blog in today for NaBloWriMo , still keeping with that goal of making writing more a part of my life. Today, my run could be as fast ...

There IS time, you can find it. Be it a small amount in between other things, or an entire afternoon. Find it. It is there.  Thanks to Namaste Cafe , where I get daily inspiration on FB .