Hello...???

Anyone out there??? It's been a long while since I've blogged, but I'm still pluggin' along over here. June was a month of setbacks and disappointments, but I'm doing my best to "rally". I haven't been in my stamp room in weeks, and frankly I don't relish the thought of it. It's a huge mess, and the mess will be getting worse before it gets better. *sigh* But I won't allow myself to play with any of the new goodies I showed on my last post, until it's all done. So...time to get to work! I'm still not sleeping all that great, but some is better than none. The sun is out today (YAY!) but not mind-meltingly hot, so I'm hoping it will be a super, duper productive day!!!

I do have some photos to share though!

This was my first batch of pasta! I used it for fresh shrimp alfredo and it was delish!

These were used for this...

My very first, all from scratch!, lasagna!!! It was pretty good, but not quite spicy enough. I did make it again, with two more layers, and it was sublime! I even made homemade sauce!!

Bella playing on her first official day of Summer Vacation! She wanted a pajama day and she got it!

My next pasta adventure was making ravioli! This attachment made four at a time, and I didn't realize just how tiny they were going to be. I had made a filling that was too "chunky" for it, and I knew they would burst if I boiled them. Ugh! So, digustedly I popped 'em in the fridge and Thomas saved dinner with take-out pizza instead. There was NO WAY I was throwing them away, after hours of work!, so I floured each one, then dipped in beaten egg and then bread crumbs...to make toasted ravioli!!! These were my bestest pasta creation yet!!! Dipped in spagetti sauce, they made an incredible dinner!!! This platter was just half of what I made, and I still had 40% of the raviolis left!! So I froze them for a quick, yummy snack later on.

We had been yearning for "summer" weather, and boy did we get it! For over a week the sun came out and roasted us alive with temps in the 90's!!!! We don't have A/C here in Germany, and even with fans going in every room, it was really uncomfortable. The third floor was nearly unlivable and that's where our bedrooms are! Ugh!

But at least The Bella had this:

A new pool! Kind of "babyish", but the largest the PX had.

And she loves it!

Especially with her new Hello Kitty bathingsuit!

I also found and put up her outside tent to play in!

Having fun!

This is her "mermaid" bathingsuit!

With Bella home with me now, she got to help make some pasta!! And she did great!

Kneading the dough like a champ!

Rolling out the dough with the pasta machine!

Gorgeous thin spaghetti!! Each lovely strand perfectly separated!

And we used it for this:

Chilled pasta salad made with chicken breast and fresh veggies!

Close-up view

Next up, larger raviolis!

These were filled with a seasoned ricotta cheese, topped with homemade sauce! SO GOOD!!!

Last Saturday, Thomas did a 10 mile run. He does that. For "fun"!!! (weirdo!) If you ever see me running, you had best be running too, because something awful is chasing me, lol!

Look how sweaty he was!

Yeah, he's pretty tough!

But he was pretty sore too, lol!

So there ya go....I've loaded up all the photos and videos from my hard drive! Now to get busy around here, keeping up with the housework and hopefully making some good progress on my stamping studio too! Bella has been doing work books to keep all that 3rd grade knowledge fresh, and tomorrow we'll be working on some flashcards to improve her math functions as well. I hope the skies are pretty and blue where you are, and you have a great week ahead!