Very Personal Blog

I am not normally one to share deeply personal information on my blog. I am here to inspire others. But I have something that I have been struggling with and need some advice from some other moms. So I am going to share more than I normally would, and pray that the right people will see this to offer advice. If you know me personally and would rather share your advice privately, I would appreciate that as well. I'd even enjoy a coffee or ice cream with ya.

Six years ago, after my son was born, I had my tubes tied. Since that time, I have struggled with extremely heavy menstruation. It is very regular, just very heavy. I am not sure if the two things are related or not. I am just exploring all my options to get this to stop. The last cycle was the worst. I was in church, just sitting. When I stood up I had to go home and change my clothes. I was nearly in tears. But I was reminded of the woman who touched the cloak of Jesus and was instantly healed. I prayed hard after that, and was better all afternoon and for the rest of the time. I am trusting God, and making some lifestyle changes that are supposed to help. But I am still curious if someone else has had this problem, and if having a reversal would actually help. I would also love to chat with anyone who has had a reversal to find out the results of that. I am considering the reversal for another reason as well, but am also considering adoption. Please weigh in your thoughts on that as well.

On an unrelated topic, does anyone have any good ideas on how to motivate kids to do their math?

Nuclear Energy

As I was writing about our party, I realized I had not yet posted about our science class on Thursday. We were studying nuclear energy. There's not too much exciting to report. We did a lot of reading. The most interesting part for me was reading about the Manhattan Project and learning some of the other names involved (other than Albert Einstein). There were some worksheets that the kids took home, including a word search. Each family was also assigned a different biofuel to read up on and report about next week (to finish up chemical energy). The project for the day was to build a clay model of a nuclear power plant. We used modeling clay that you can bake to harden it and keep as a souvenir. Two of the models turned out quite well. The others all came apart in at least one spot. I'm actually surprised they didn't turn to dust due to the fact that I started painting my son's bedroom and forgot they were in the oven. Ooops. Oh, and for those that were worried, the sushi came out quite well - so bring your appetite next week ;-) For those that don't know what I'm talking about, you really don't want to. This week we will be talking about thermal energy, if I can find a thermometer. Anyone know where I can get a cheap one (or borrow one)?

Monster Mouth Pasta

So, we had a party today. We were celebrating Evan's 6th birthday, my wonderful husband's 36th birthday, and their favorite halloween. We had the party 2 days after halloween, so we could get all the decorations at half off. OK, that's not really why. It just kind of worked out that way. We got a book halloween food and crafts from the grocery store a while back. I thought it would be kind of fun to try out some of the cool ideas. A few of them ended up being really good, so I will be adding the recipes into my meal rotation. My favorite was the pasta. I will not add all the decorating steps. I'll leave that up to your imagination. Here's the recipe:

1 tsp of vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 slices of bacon
1 lb ground beef
2 medium plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
4 slices American cheese, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 pkg jumbo pasta shells (about 18 shells), cooked and drained

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease 13x9 baking dish. Heat oil in large skillet over medium. Add onion and bacon; cook until onion is tender. Add beef; cook and stir until beef is no longer pink. Stir in tomatoes, cheese, salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into cooked shells; place in prepared baking dish. Bake 3 to 5 minutes or until hot.