Because I Wanted to Save It

I love pintrest for the ease of saving things online.  But sometimes, for reasons unknown and really unknowable to me (since I am not THAT techie minded), I can't get it to stick to my pinterest board.  DANG!  Well... now is one of those times.  I want to save some recipes, but cannot get the dang thing to accept my links.  And it's not because the pictures are too small, that's for sure!

So, I'm going to include the links here and then plug this post into my pintrest board.  Hopefully it'll work!  ^_^  It should... so long as I can get a picture in here.  ;)

just a picture so I can put this on pintrest



Beehive Banana Muffins: made with a strussel topping (using honey cheerios)

Carrot Cake Cookies: with oatmeal, nuts, and spices.  can't go wrong!

Crunchy Granola Muffins:  just looks yum! 

Because It Matters to Me

I wondered, when I experienced miscarriage last year, if the baby's estimated due date would be upsetting at all.

Since today is that day, and because it matters to me, I wanted to share how I feel.

I feel better.

I am super grateful to be pregnant on this date.  I think it would be a more difficult un-birth-day if I wasn't.  Truly.  If I wasn't preggie, I would only mourn and not be sure I would have the opportunity to look forward to holding a new little person.

Since lots of ladies I know have shared that they are glad to hold others' babies, but equally glad that they won't have to deal with one of their own, I can only imagine that I will feel similarly some day.  However, I am NOT there yet.  I ache to hold, nurse, and feel even more fatigue (assuming this new baby is like my girls) than I do now.  Obviously, I'm not done having babies!  And since I'm preggie, I don't have only mourning on my mind.

God's wisdom is far greater than my own!  At the time we conceived, I did not want to get preggie.  I was feeling overwhelmed by certain things going on and didn't think I could emotionally deal with a pregnancy only 3 months after pregnancy loss.  Well, in a way I was right... but in the longer-term, I was definitely wrong.  I'm so glad God is able to know the end from the beginning!!!

Given the above, I'm WAY better today than I was in the early months of pregnancy.  Being half-way through and not knowing when I'll get home is pretty interesting.  I want to clean my nest and cannot... so I'm trying to satisfy myself in my parents' nest.  ;)  I sure am glad God knows how this will all play out!

Meditation Monday #24

Today is day 223 of my meditation journey. I'm still visitng my folks.  Daily meditation continues to be a greater challenge than in my own home, but I'm still going strong... daily meditation is most consistently at the 7 minute Kirtan Kriya, plus open and close... so a total of about 10 minutes.  But I'm still doing it!  Only by the Grace of God, though, I promise you.  It is not due to any inherent ability or strength on my part.  I've almost stopped any number of times now (especially since I've been here), but every time I do, Father reminds me, by the Holy Spirit, of the progress made in healing that I have experienced... tugging at my heart, urging me to continue.  I'm ever so grateful for His constant Love, Encouragement, and Support!!!

Finally Some Good News From/About the Gollihughs!

(make sure to read all the way to the bottom)

You Might be Pregnant If...

...you (could) go to bed at 8pm, fall asleep before 9pm, wake up every 3 hours to pee, wake up at 7am, then need a nap by 12:30pm with your 20 month old, sleep for an hour or more, and feel more than ready for bed by 8pm during your first trimester!

...you lose your vocabularly in direct relation to the number of weeks you fulfill toward gestating your newest little one.

...restrooms are rated (meaning you know where most of them are along any route you regularly travel) and you only stop at the worst ones for the greatest emergencies... and those happen far too often.  yuck.

...sleep is pretty much more attractive than anything else you might consider doing.

...feelings rise unprovoked and wash over you and explode out in completely unreasonable and disproportionate ways.

...compulsions arise anew and with a raging force that feels uncontrollable.

....you feel all fired up at times and just want to duke it out verbally.  When there is no one to exchange intelligent sparring, you just feel all tied up in knots.

...sleep is your best friend and you have either fallen asleep in unexpected places or are concerned that you may do so in the near future.

...you have to clip your nails much more frequently than normal (twice in one week? yep!).

...you feel like you must exponentially increase your Temple attendance and manage to go weekly.  Each time you go you feel relief, peace, and love that seems elusive through the rest of the week... even the couple weeks you're not able to go in to work, but hang out on the grounds with your children.  After a few weeks, you realize that you started to feel compelled to go to the Temple weekly the very first week you conceived and managed to get there once a week for 13 weeks.

...sleep... yes, may I?  It is probably the activity you most long for... all the time.

...you really think you've said one thing only to find that ALL those to whom you were speaking heard something (the same thing) that you didn't mean to say.  (Okay, so this happens to me while breastfeeding, too, but FAR more frequently during gestation!)  ^_^

...you feel compelled to clean REALLY often (and odd things that most normal folks (including your NOT-preggie self) wouldn't think often necessary of cleaning once second trimester hits.

...you find yourself sobbing over lovely music videos like THIS:



These are all relatively recent experiences.

To be perfectly plain: we are expecting sweet Golly-baby #5.  We are around half-way through this gestation.  Praise the Lord, cause it's been a rough one... in case you're wondering, since there are a few allusions to this potential truth: I am SIGNIFICANTLY more tired this time around then EVER before!  ;)  I might say exhausted and ridiculously fatigued are more accurate descriptions than "tired".

Public Notice:
If you don't have anything kind, loving and/or supportive to say about this pregnancy or the addition of #5 to our family, simply refrain from commenting here or to me in person.  And by this I mean that if you feel any desire to make any comments like: "You DO know how that happens, right?"  or, "I can tell you how to prevent this." or anything else you may consider funny... CLUE: so totally NOT actually FUNNY and I will not respond well if you choose to be a jerk by such jokes.

Truth: i heard these jokes as the eldest of 6 and did NOT appreciate them then.  I appreciate them FAR less now - especially because of the things I know about the family I hope to have.  I simply will not tolerate you making thinly veiled comments about my family whether in joke form or not.  Thank you for reading, synthesizing, and commenting in ways that are truly kind and supportive!!  ^_^  Since none of you folks who read here (or those I know in my real life) are dolts, I will leave you to consider and determine WHAT is actually kind and supportive given the above information!  :)

Oh, and, as is normal for us, we will not find out whether we're adding a boy or girl to our lil' Golly Gang until s/he is actually born.  So... you'll just have to wait along with us to find out in June!  ^_^

Meditation Monday #23

Today is day 209 of my meditation journey.  I'm visiting family right now.  Though the circumstances are different and somewhat more difficult, I've been blessed to be able to continue my daily meditating.  If there was actually anything for me to be proud of, I might be... but I know that it's only continued as steadily onward because of the Grace of God.  He is mighty to save... love... provide... Our God is an awesome God!

Thankful Thursday

I am so thankful that blessings and trials are equal.  The trial may seem unendurable, yet if I can look with the right eyes, I always see some blessing in/of/from it... and always there follow blessings sent, as it were, to wipe the tears away.  Of course, they often cause their own tears... but tears of joy instead of sorrow.

I'm thankful for a Loving Heavenly Father who has blessed me so abundantly with the earthly family I have.  Growing up with them was a lil' tough for me, but being an adult with them is almost completely a joy and pleasure.  I sure am glad to know such a fine group of human beings!

I'm thankful for trials.  I'm thankful for blessings.  I'm thankful for the gift of eyes to see and ears to hear that I may understand.  God is GREAT!

Meditation Monday #22

Today is day 202 of my meditation journey.  Due to certain circumstances, this past week it was significantly more difficult to meditate each day.  I did it, though.  Many days it was a short meditation (around 10 minutes, total), but I'm still plugging along.  I'm very pleased about that!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for trials that force me to question my reality and learn from what I've been through.

I'm thankful for my family.  I'm so thankful  for hugs from them and their love no matter how much I may not deserve it.

I'm thankful for meditation and the peace that comes with reading the scriptures.  I sure do love the book of Revelations!

Meditation Monday #21

Today is day 195 of my meditation journey.  The very fact that I'm still counting is pretty phenomenal to me right now.  I've experienced some pretty major seismic shifting over the last 8-10 days.  A younger self would've given up this journey as a fruitless effort with the things that have been going on.  Perhaps I am becoming wise yet.  I sure do hope so....

I have not been able to continue with the guided imagery meditation over the last week or so.  I hope to pick it back up sooner than later, though.

Saturday Soliloquy #13

Some of my favorite things about Japan include many daily practices.  I loved the entry way in my Host Family’s home.  It was quite large.  Basically it was a transitional sort of area of the home… even those you may not invite into the inner parts of your home could enter and converse with you in the entry room.  There were many things in this room of my Host Family’s home, but I don’t remember all the details.  The main things I remember are that #1 the entry level of the floor change right before you went into the house… it raised up about 8-12 inches from the level of the first front door to the level of the door into the home.  Before anyone entering could step up to the inner home level, it was expected that one should remove the shoes worn outside and put on some house slippers.  My Host Family had house slippers for each person, but also had lots of extra visitor slippers.  I loved that.

I also really loved that my host family had a whole smallish room for the toilet.  This room was a bit sunk down and the practice was to remove house slippers, put on the toilet room slippers (that everyone shared), use the toilet, and then exit, leaving the toilet room slippers ready for the next person to enter (not exactly convenient for the person exiting), and putting house slippers back on.  The toilet room was entirely separate from the room that had the sinks and there was no door between the two.  I didn’t realize, until the end of my time in Japan, that my Host Family’s toilet had a hand-washing sink on the back of it… every time one flushed, clean water ran so you could wash your hands.  Very cool.  Unfortunately, I went from the toilet room to the sink room every time after I used the toilet.  The room in which we took showers and baths was through a door in the sink room.  The bathing room was very cool.  It was one level onto which you stepped upon entering the room and then you stepped up to step down into the tub.  The shower spigot was a few feet away from the awesome tub so you could wash and rinse without getting any rinse water into the hot deep tub.  The tub was amazing.  It was re-circulated water kept hot by a heater that was part of the whole set-up.  I could sit in it and the water was up to my chest.  I could also stretch my legs out straight in front of me.  I could not lie down unless I bent my legs… but I was happy to just sit and soak.  I loved the baths!

I got a cold while in Japan and my Host Mother immediately put me on a schedule of dinner, bath, hot tea and off to bed.  It seemed a little silly to me, but that was one time I whipped through a cold much faster than was typically normal for me.  I’m sure the tea she gave was helpful, too… though I’m not sure what it was.  It also felt quite nice to be so carefully taken care of.  It seems that I’m generally perceived as a pretty tough chick… so it’s rare enough that anyone attempts to take care of me or be protective of me.  But I am a woman… and we all want to feel cherished and lovingly cared for… at least sometimes.  Anyway… it was nice to be cared for by my Host Mom.  And it definitely helped!

I also liked that the part of the school I attended expected us to remove our shoes to enter the main part of the building.  The rest of the campus wasn’t like that, but I’m glad my little building was!

The bike parking area near the train station I rode to from my Host Family’s home was quite cool.  There were bike racks, but no one used chains or anything else like that to lock up their bikes.  There were neat little keyed or coded locks that stuck the tire in place somehow.  I think it was more because the people were full of integrity, but being careful didn’t hurt either, I’m sure.  The little parking lot I used was attended by a security guard, too.  Very neat.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for opportunities to make new friendly aquaintances... especially when those opportunities are provided my children AND me concurrently!

Tricky Tuesday #8

A suggestion for you today.

If you desire to learn something for which you would love to take a class, but cannot afford to do so... seek out a local club that deals with your subject.  You can probably attend as a guest for at least a few meetings to see if you want to commit... and then, it's likely the membership dues are far more manageable than tuition, fees, and books for almost any given class you could attend.

I've been able to attend two out of the last three Garden Club meetings and they are wonderful.  They are a group of older ladies who are each a wealth of knowledge about plants and gardening.  I've learned so much each time and come away with cuttings and/or actual potted plants.  Most recently I was given two potted plants: a night flowering cereus and a pot with some vick's plants (plectranthus tomentosa) and easter lilies in it!  ^_^

Some reading on the Vick's plant (and toothache plant, which i hope to grow from seed soon).

Meditation Monday #20

Today is day 188 of my meditation journey.  Six and a half months in... definitely seems like that long as I reflect on the days, but overall... not at all!  Just like being a Mama... my sister once shared a quote that went something like: "The days are long, but the years are short."  A quick google search reveals that it's a quote by Gretchen Rubin in the Happiness Project.  Definitely about right for this process/endeavor of meditating daily.

This week has been good.  Still focusing on Kirtan Kriya and trying for 31 minutes each day.  I'm adding in some guided imagery meditation here and there.  I'll share on that method sometime in January after I have a bit more experience with the particular recordings I'm using and can share some details.  It's been 13 years since I actively used guided imagery meditation, so I'm excited to see how it goes this time.  I expect it should be interested, at the very least, because I am all too frequently a suggestible person as far as subconscious access goes.  It's a blessing and a curse, I tell ya!  ;)

Saturday Soliloquy #12

Another experience you simply cannot understand unless you’ve experienced it in Japan is Karaoke.  In the U.S.A. Karaoke, as I’ve seen it, is a caricature of that which exists in its country of origin!  In Japan there are Karaoke businesses.  These are buildings dedicated to Karaoke.  When you go, you usually go with a group.  You and your group are brought to a room fitted with seats, a table, a big screen and a method of choosing your songs to which you’ll sing.  You are assigned a waitress and can order appetizers and alcohol.  There may be places that have meals as well as appetizers, but I didn’t experience any.

Along with Karaoke, it’s interesting to note that drinking alcohol is a completely different thing in Japan compared to the US as well.  I mean, for instance, you can purchase humungous cans of beer from automated machines (like soda machines).  That is a whole thing in itself, too, the whole automated dispenser-thing!

Regarding alcohol, it seemed very much that there was not any stigma attached to the consumption of it.  The only problem that arose (socially speaking) as far as I could tell and was told, was if someone who drank was a mean drunk in public.  Otherwise it seemed like alcohol was viewed simply as a means to an end.  For instance, I learned it was pretty common practice for a boss to go out drinking with his employees for the express purpose that his employees might see him as a regular person and not the mean “bottom line” guy he has to be at work.  It was definitely seen as a social lubricant in Japan far more than I’ve ever known it to be accepted in the US.

As for the automated dispensers… well, if you can imagine that it might work in such a machine, I’m absolutely certain the Japanese could tell you if it works out as practically as it does in theory!  Seriously.  In addition to beer (and other alcohol to a lesser extent), you could find pantyhose, magazines, food, porn, movies, and more in such machines.  I’m absolutely certain I did not see as wide a variety of them as there are, in fact, available to be seen and purchased from.

Another automated sort of thing that was very different in Japan is that there were numerous video game/gaming spots.  Within each such place, you’re sure to find a mini-photo booth.  When I went to Japan, these photo booth pictures were popular enough that most of the tiny planners have a few pages specially dedicated to and made for them.  I heard, also, that there was a bit of trading of them that was popular.  They sure were fun!  The photo booths were one of my favorite activities, actually.  They could be found almost everywhere, not just in gaming places.

Although I didn’t experience it at all, there were also specific places for various forms of gambling.  Pachinko is one I can think of right off the top of my head.  I can’t tell you any more than the name because I never went in or played.  But I can tell you those shops/buildings/places were VERY well lit and noisy.  Regular shops were also lit well, but these gambling houses were almost TOO well lit.  This seems almost a direct opposite of the same sorts of places in the US… though I’ve never personally been to one in the US… I’m just basing that on what I’ve heard about them and seen in movies.

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for opportunities to spend time as an adult among other adults without concern over my littles.  It really can be a good thing to get away... though not too often!  ;)