Sweeping Through Life

With all the barbecue that we had over the weekend and into this week, I wanted something besides chicken or beef. Here is how I made it..... 3-5 pieces of Tilapia fillets breadcrumbs spices 2 tbls. of butter 2 eggs Make sure that the fish is defrosted. You will need 3 plates, one for the fish, one for the eggs and the other for the breadcrumbs. Melt the butter in the pan and allow to heat up, without burning. Dip the fish in the eggs. Once placed in the eggs, but fish on the second plate and season to taste. I used garlic, onion, pepper and fish rub which we purchased on our honeymoon. Once seasoned, cover both sides of the fish with breadcrumbs. I also added a little bit of pepper and salt to the breadcrumbs. Place fish in the hot pan and cook on both sides until golden brown. The fish should take about 3-5 minutes on each side to brown. Once done place fish on a plate that is cover with paper towels to removed some of the butter. After all steps are completed..enjoy your meal.

Thank God for all His many blessing. Mr. J got a job offer yesterday and accepted. I am happy that he found something so quick after getting laid off. The way that the economy is right now, we were bracing for a longer period of time for him to have to find a job. Beggars can not be choosers, since his shift will be nights again. He worked nights before, so it won't be much of change. I kinda wished he got days since I kinda have gotten use to him being around when I came home from work. I will let him get his foot in the door, before I start asking him to post for a day or mid-day shift. His job is with a good company and the location is closer to our home so some nights I will be able to have dinner with him on his lunch break. We will have more details about the position on Monday. I am so thankful that God has truly blessed my family.

I had taste for some chocolate chip cookies to eat with a scoop of vanilla ice cream,that I had in the freezer, so I made some when I got home from work. Here is the recipe: 1 package of yellow cake mix 1 cup of quick cooking rolled oats, uncooked 1/4 cup of butter, softened 2 eggs 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup of pecan pieces Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix cake mix,oats, butter and eggs. Then add the pecans and chocolate chips, alternating between the two. Mix well. Place spoonfuls of the mixture on a baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 4 dozen. The cookies were still a little warm when I placed them with 2 scoops of ice cream for dessert. Yummy, yummy, yummy in my tummy, tummy, tummy.

Peonies. I love the peony flower. I picked these from my mom's yard on Saturday. I think that they look great in my dining room. Mr. J does not really like to peonies, because they always have to big, black ants on them but he accommodates me since I love them so. When I brought these home, I set them outside on our deck for a while so that the ants could get back to nature and not make a home in my house. Here are my peonies. I planted these last fall in my backyard. They are off shoots from my mom's. They do not have any buds or blooms on them yet, I hope that they do by they end of the summer, so that I am able to pick more of these pretty flowers to display in my house.

It is official.. I am Mrs. D.J. On Friday, I went to the bank and to the social security office and changed my name. The only thing that I did not do was get a new driver's license. I will get that within the next few weeks. I wanted to be Mrs. D.J. for a long time, and when I say a long time I mean a long time. At times it seems so final, like I a losing a piece of my identity. I know that I am still Dana, but sometimes that it feels like I have changed into someone else and all I did was change my last name. Well, I guess I did change into someone else, I changed from Ms. to Mrs. It is suppose to be different. It is a new beginning of a new life, no matter how long that I dated Mr. J. The relationship has changed, thus the name has to change with it. So, suck it up Dana, move on..you are still the girl that loves shoes, Coach purses, watching Aqua Teen Hungerforce, thrift store shopping,listening to 80's music and being the wife of Mr. J. I am going to say it loud and pro...

I know that the economy is rough right now, but fighting at a local Old Navy store to get $1.00 flip flops is a bit much. I like a bargain just as much as anyone but this is a little out of hand. When I went to Old Navy yesterday hoping to get some of the $1.00 flip flops, but by time I made it there they were all gone except for sizes 5,6 or 7. Since I wear a 9/10 that really did not work for me. I wanted some new flip flop colors, but I really was not going to stand in line for them. I only get up early and stand in lines on the day after Thanksgiving sales. To read more on the flip flop fight click here . What does this say about our society when we are fighting for flip flops, free chicken and standing in line for a free burrito. I like sales, but I do not want anyone to get hurt in the process. FREE seems to stand for "taking what you want no matter the cost." We need to think about how bad that we want the sale. I know that people are hurting, emotionally and financi...

My job's "fun" committee is having a Cake Smack Down. I of course entered the contest, since I think that I am Martha Stewart or Paula Deen since I purchased my Kitchenaide mixer. I just do not know what kind of cake to make, something new or something that is tried and true. Have any suggestions? I have a little time. The bake off is not until the middle of June. I will keep you updated.

I love shoes and not met on that I did not like (well maybe a few). I heart flip flops. I mean when I say I love flip flops, I mean I love flip flops. My feet really go through a transition when I have to start putting on socks and shoes again. My feet give me a little break in the summer when I want to take a walk or go to the gym, and I have to put on tennis shoes and socks, but I can only have them closed up for 30 minutes to an hour or they start to hurt. I guess it is their way of crying for help, to get back into a flip flop. I think I have every color, but I am always looking for different colors and styles. I am so bad that I wear my flip flops into work from the parking lot and sometimes accidentally forget to put on my work sandals. (Yeah right, Ha Ha). My husband, Mr. J, hates flip flops. I do not think that he really hates the shoes itself, but he finds the sound that they make annoying. He said that he can hear me coming and going. At least he knows where I am. He can ...

On Saturday, I volunteered with my sorority for the Susan G.Koman Race for the Cure . I have volunteer for this event before my sorority got involved. We worked the registration area. What I can say about this event that no matter what race, sex or creed, it seems like if it is just for a few hours, my community came together for finding a cure. I have been doing this event for several years and it is always been a moving event to see all the walkers and runners participating for some one that they love who has or had breast cancer and all of the survivors that come out to support as well. The only thing that did disturb me a little this year, is that it seemed that there were alot more young women, between the ages of 25-40, that seem to be walking around in pink survivor shirts. (Sorority sisters with a participate) In my hometown, a local newscaster named Heather, passed away from cancer. The tv station she worked for started a team for the race and opened it up to the community to...

I like to play games, especially Monopoly. When I was little my family would play Monopoly after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. A few years ago, I spent several summer nights are different sorority sister houses playing the game. The game got so intense that we had to set special rules when we played. When Chuck and I went to make our wedding registry at Target I scanned the new Monopoly game with the credit card machine in it. I was so excited (Thanks Rachel and Tom). Currently my deluxe edition of the game was missing some pieces, since it was traveling from house to house for games and I was planning on replacing it, but now I do not have to. I can not wait to crack it open and kick some Monopoly butt. Players beware.

Welcome Collin S. into the world. My friend Tabby and her husband Robert had a beautiful baby boy on Monday. Congratulations!!! He came into this world with a little rough start, but all his IV's were finally taken out yesterday. Hooray!!! Now all the little guy needs to do is eat, so that he can go home. I am sure once he gets that milk in his mouth is going to be a real chomper. Welcome baby Collin, I can not wait to meet you in person.

Today is my step-daughter Shaykila's 17th birthday. It is odd to realize that she is that old. What a perfect reason to use my new mixer, but to make a birthday cake. I decided to make her a Snickers candy bar cake. What kid does not like candy. This cake seems like such a "fat crime" and you will understand once you see the recipe. There is nothing light about it. She will be surprised this morning when she realizes that the cake I made was not to take to work, but for her. Snickers Candy Bar Cake (recipe via Cooks.com) There are several version of this cake, one you make all from scratch and the other you use boxed German chocolate or devil food cake mix. I chose to be like Martha Stewart and make the cake from scratch. Serves 12 Calories per serving 211 (nothing light about this cake) 8 SNICKERS® bars (reg. size) 2 sticks butter 2 c. sugar 4 eggs 2 1/2 c. flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 1/4 c. buttermilk Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Melt candy bars and 1 stick of butter, ...

My husband seems to listen to everything. He catches every word I say, even when I am being a smarty pants and really do not want him to hear. Yesterday, we were in the kitchen discussing (he was really discussing I was kinda of just in the room) about moving my brand new KitchenAide off of the counter and putting it on the bakers rack. I really am not feeling it. I want to see my KitchenAide on a daily basis. I waited to long to get it. I responded after he gave me all of his points as to why it should move, " We'll I do not want to move my KitchenAide. I will move the other stuff that I have soon, to make more room." He stood there and just looked at me. He made this funny look on his face and then said," Move your stuff? I thought it was our stuff?" He said it like he was offended or something. I immediately became confused. Since when did he care about the stuff in the kitchen, that is my domain. He mainly goes in there to get something to drink and walks ba...

This is the best wedding gift ever.......my KitchenAide mixer. Not to say that I do not enjoy my other gifts that we received for the wedding, but I have always wanted one. We received lots of Macy's gift cards as presents, I just combined them. Macy's had a great sale for Mother's Day. Included with the mixer were 3 attachments, but I can get another attachment free once I send in the rebate (Which the sales lady did not offer the information and I had to ask for it. Glad I read the ad). It looks really great on my counter and goes with all my red accessories in my kitchen. I can not wait to use it. My husband said since I got the mixer, I need to make a cake every week for his sweet tooth. We will see about that. I just have not decided what to make first. I am sure that I will think of something.

When trying to spruce up my new blog site, I wanted something similar but different from my other blog. I have been blogging for over a year now and I think that I am pretty savvy (but I have more to learn). I found this blog called Chic Blogs that offered free template , even this cute one on my blog. It was really easy to upload and alter to fit what I wanted the blog to look like. In my search, I found lots of other blogs that offered free blog templates . On Simply Blog It Backgrounds, there is a list of several. Click here to view the list. You never know you might find the blog template of your dreams.

I have been a wife for 1 whole month now. It does feel a little different. I know that my husband is getting used to saying the word wife, especially when he wants me to do something that I do not normally do or want to do. I guess it is all about compromise and comes with the package of being husband and wife. You do things for each other and with each other even when you do not want to.

With all of the current changes, from going from engaged to married, now we have to deal with my husband now being laid off from his job yesterday. It is going to be o.k. and we will be all right. It is just not a stresser that we need right now. To keep him busy between looking and applying for jobs, I am going to create a honey-do-list. By the end of the summer, hopefully he will have full time employment again and all the undone task around the house will be completed.