What my pain could be, and a recipe

So it's safe to say that I've spent a lot of time thinking about what my recent pain could be (I had more pain when I woke up today, but it's gotten better since then). After much googling, I've come up with a few possibilities. Don't you love self-diagnosis?

Let's start with what we really, really hope it is (this is very unlike me, so brace yourself). It could be implantation pain, since it is in the window for that to be happening and there are many sensations women describe during the time when implantation was occuring - from shooting pain, to dull cramping, to a gurgling feeling (I'd cite my sources, but they were mainly those questions posted on yahoo answers or in forums that came up when I searched "implantation pain." I know, real accurate). It also could be general pain often experienced in very early pregnancy. I've heard/read where many women say they had cramping and even felt like they were getting their period for many days leading up to their positive pregnancy test. Keep in mind, I'm not saying I'm pregnant! I'm just listing the possibilities. And trying to be hopeful.

On the negative side, the pain could be many things, including gas (a possibility), a cyst (also a possibility, but I've had cysts in the past and never had any pain), endometriosis (let's hope not), or pain due to follicles filling with water or something like that (not sure about this, just read it online).

And, probably the most likely option - unexplained cramping. After I get my period in a little more than a week, I'll probably just look back and wonder what the heck it was. Perhaps I'll ask my doctor about it in the future, and perhaps he will say it was just my body getting used to being healthy. Who knows.

Enough about that. Our second home study meeting is tomorrow. This could be the meeting in which we talk about discipline, so I am probably going to call my mom and ask for advice tonight! I'm sure I'll be good at disciplining my kids, but it's just not something you think about before you even have them! I even considered watching Super Nanny the other night just to get some pointers, but it was ending when I caught it. Darn! Anyone have any suggestions of what would be good to say?

Tonight we are going to work on paperwork, like printing out our credit reports, finding old addresses, that sort of thing. Everything isn't due tomorrow, but we want to bring with us the background check paperwork since that needs to be mailed by our agency to two different states.

In other news, I am super excited that tomorrow I'll be able to go grocery shopping! I've been looking forward to Tuesday for more than a week now, since we sort of ran out of grocery money way ahead of time. My husband gets paid tomorrow, so I'm heading straight to the grocery store. I have to say I've done a pretty good job of getting by with the few things we had in the fridge and cupboards, but the down side is that I've been eating a lot of carbs, since that's usually what is laying around or can be made from ingredients we have. I need fresh fruit and vegetables! I'm going to plan out our menu tonight and make up a list. I've never been so excited to get groceries before, that's for sure.

Speaking of food, Becky asked me to post my recipe for Chicken Lo Mein I came up with the other day. In my opinion, it's really good, even if you're not on a diet, although I highly recommend making it in the morning to eat that night, or making it the night before and eating it the next day. It's much better after it sits a while!

And that's a picture of it from when I made it the other day, although I can't figure out if it looks appetizing here or not. It looks good to me, but that is because I know how yummy it is!

I just pretty much made it up as I went along, so it's not exact, and it very well may be the most informal recipe you've ever read. Here it is:

Chicken Lo Mein

Ingredients: Box of mushrooms, garlic cloves (3-4, or to taste), 1 cup broccoli slaw (if you can't find this at the store, you could thinly slice cabbage, celery and carrots), store-bought roaster chicken, soy sauce, stir-fry sauce, cooking wine, oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper

Directions: In oil (I used canola, but next time will get sesame), saute mushrooms, garlic and something called broccoli slaw (I found it in the grocery store and got it because it looked like the stuff in take-out lo mein. It's basically like the raw stuff you use to make cole slaw [obviously minus the mayo at this point] but rather than being mainly cabbage, it was broccoli. It looked like cabbage though). Add some salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Cut up/pull apart chicken from a roaster chicken and add it in to the veggies (I like the roaster chicken better than cooking my own chicken breasts, because, if this makes sense, it is softer that way and absorbs the sauces better).

After vegetables have sauteed a few minutes, add a little bit of soy sauce and stir-fry sauce (it's a sauce called "Stir-fry Sauce" and adds a bit of sweetness to it). I also added a teeny tiny bit of Marsala wine to one side of the pan (mainly because many online recipes call for wine and it was the only kind I had) and let the wine cook off before mixing it in. Next time I might add a little bit more. Any sort of wine could probably be used.

Meanwhile, cook whole wheat spaghetti and after the veggies cooked down, I mixed the spaghetti (probably half to 3/4 of the box) in to the veggie mixture and saute it all together for a little while, while also adding a tiny bit more soy and stir-fry sauce, to taste. Add more salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste.

I was worried I didn't have enough soy sauce, but the little bit I did have ended up being more than enough (I would say maybe a quarter cup. The stir-fry sauce I just drizzled over everything a couple times). I even added extra spaghetti because it was a little too strong for me. You can play around with the amounts in this recipe.

You can eat immediately, but it is much better the next day after the flavors have been allowed to seep into the vegetables, spaghetti and the chicken.