Hamer Electronics

Hamer

Pedulla

Garden Rigatoni

With a few goodies from the garden, dinner was exceptionally good tonight!

The recipe couldn't be more basic, but what made it taste so good were the fresh zucchini and basil that I have been trying to keep alive during this seriously HOT summer!

Ingredients:

1 package rigatoni
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 kielbasa sausage, sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 cups zucchini, chopped
2 chopped fresh tomatoes or 1 can petite diced tomatoes
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
olive oil
salt
pepper


Method:

1. Cook rigatoni in a pot with salted water according to package instructions. Make sauce while noodles cook.

2. For sauce: In a large skillet, heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add onion and kielbasa and cook over medium heat until onion is tender. Add zucchini and cook a few more minutes.

3. Add garlic, saute for a minute or two. Then add tomatoes and basil. Allow to cook while pasta is still cooking. Add salt and pepper to taste. Keep the salt light, the sausage already has a strong salt presence.

4. When pasta is ready, add it to the sauce, as much as you like. To serve, transfer to bowl, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and keep fresh pepper on hand. Because of the sausage, you shouldn't need more salt.

Plasma TV for sale

separation anxiety

despite the fact that we spent several hours together earlier in the day, and shared on skype call that evening ... these girls still had to connect one more time before going off to bed.

thank goodness for skype,

thank goodness for fun cousins whom we love,

thank goodness for silliness in general - it keeps us entertained to say the least.

so long shaggies

the boys were starting to look like ... well ... how do i say this? ummmmm - how about just  some long-haired boys? now, the king has to maintain a longer style, as i have outlawed buzzes on him for the next year. and the boy has only ever worn buzzes and to our surprise, has been rockin' this longer style. so, i sent them into our hair lady to trim them up so that they would look like boys ... er, i mean, like the cute boys they are!

definitely better! and the king is really rockin' the beiber look - i've started calling him baby beiber - even though he hardly qualifies for "baby" anything anymore. but i love the alliteration ... and he was free at disneyland and seaworld! so, i can kind of get away with it ... for now, at least.

making quite a splash

i hate to admit it, but after a few hours at seaworld i was really beginning to think that it is way overrated, until i saw him ...

it was love at first sight!

oh, and happy birthday to my mom - wish you could have joined us!

pink heaven

i just can't seem to get enough of these beauties ...

those soft, luxurious feathers in more shades of pink and coral then i could ever dream up ...

what fun, gorgeous creatures

that san diego zoo never disappoints

a tale of two disneylands

the first is a happy story - a mother and daughter riding space mountain and the tea cups - enjoying the sunshine and drinking in every last minute they had in the magic kingdom.

the second tale is not so happy, it is of a father in the process of losing 18 pounds due to intestinal difficulties, and his two sons and oldest daugher forging their way through disneyland so that the above mentioned mother and daughter could enjoy their last day at the park. sweet little thing 1 just rode in the stroller the entire day, the boy was not chosed to be among the jedis in training, and the king was just done.

so which tale do you want to hear?

seal beach

so what do you when you have been stuck in a hotel room allllllllll day with a sick hubby? you go stir crazy, brew your first ever pot of coffee to cover the stink of the room, and with all the pity in your heart completely edged out by cabin-fever, you pile everyone into the minivan, even the sick man, and drive to the ocean.

sunset at the ocean is a beautiful time, very healing, very rejuvenating, and it did the trick for me, at least. too bad bert had to deal with a crazy wife driving around all over the place, unable to find our hotel, but we finally got there (after he kicked me out of the driver's seat). and i wish i could say that he was a new man by the next morning, but he wasn't. a slightly smaller man, yes, but not a new man.

poor, poor bert!

oh, they're happy now

but just a few short hours from this photo we were filling the midway of california adventures with more of ourselves than anyone ever wanted to see ...

the king started it off,

then the boy,

and by the time we got the boys bathed and settled into their hotel bed - bert was a party as well.

too bad we had good italian that night - you can just never think of certain foods the same again after such events.

(but on a funny side note - when i called the italian restaurant to order the food, i gave my name and the young man on the other end of the phone somewhat stuttered and i realized he might have thought i was a certain hollywood a-lister with a similar sounding name - ha ha - it was a good laugh for all of us)

my happy place

this is quite possibly one of my happiest places ever ... sailing on a little boat through a castle of cute little puppets singing "it's a small world" surrounded by my small little family. which i found out is not so small in california - people kept asking me if they were all mine - ha ha.

this was the beginning of a fairly "epic" vacation ... great way to start it off in my book.

arriving in style

that's the kind of welcome we like to receive ... fireworks filling the palm tree lined sky!

and it was a great way to cap off an 8 (should have been 6 - but we didn't have a map until we purchased one in Whittier - ha ha - seriously!) hour drive.

as we were unloading the car and filling up our new home for the next four nights, the sky was filled with the excitement of what awaited ...

unfortunately, at the same time, thing 2 was busy filling the toilet with what was ailing her ... and she missed the show. we had no idea that what we thought was probably a turn of motion sickness was actually a fun little intestinal bug that she brought with her  - wow! we might have turned back then if we knew what the next several days had in store for us - good thing, too. because it was totally worth staying and a fairly good time was had by all (at some point in time).

anyhow - thanks disneyland for a proper welcome and for heightening our anticipation as we got ready for three days of hopper heaven!

a rather different birthday

so when we woke up this morning, all we were thinking about was making a pretty cake for a pretty girl ... however, we found ourselves here instead:

turns out that we finally got our return from our taxes deposited in our account. so, that long-awaited trip to southern california was a go ... immediately!

we arranged and paid for all our passes and hotels, packed and were on the road by that afternoon. kind of a fun birthday surprise for all of us.

so, no birthday cake on her birthday, but her dimples don't lie - this was a very acceptable substitution for a birthday party!

kind of stuck

school and home projects have been very demanding over the past few weeks and we are kind of stuck in the middle of book #4 ... it's a bit of a jumble of things - have to admit that i am not loving it as much as the third - but the third had a tender tie for me, so i guess that was to be expected. anyhow - hopefully we can get cranking on it again - i hate to leave a book sitting!

one thing at a time

slowly but surely the mini-makeover is taking place in the girls room. i am still just loving that little cabinet - the hours of work were totally worth it. now we just have to wait about a month before we can set things down on it. but for now, the curtains are the next priority - hope i can find some as cute as the ones we've had.

and they're off

a 2-hour appointment with the orthodontist and she is brace free - yay!

however, the gum still has to wait a few weeks - and she won't be able to eat any of the huge pile of caramel popcorn i made her this morning - bummer.

but, the braces are off and her smile is beautiful - what a pretty girl!

getting better

despite the sad face - the fact that he is actually up and going is a good sign. recovery is not an easy process!

now we need to consider the curtains

the little cupboard is now in place and the room is taking on a bit of a new look:

i have loved these cute dragonfly curtains for a few years now ... however, it looks like it's time to let them go! the new turquoise bedspreads and hot pink accents work with the green walls, but that's about it!

so, new curtains, i guess. hopefully i can find something i love just as much!