Thankfulness Thursday---2 of my very good friends

Today I am going to tell you about two of my very good friends. Much time is spent with these friends. They are my therapy. They help me create. Yes they are my sewing machines. Here they are:



We spend LOTS of time together. They know my secrets. They never tell. We make things that make people smile. It makes us happy too. One or the other are generally ready at moments notice to help me make gifts, things for our household, repair things. They've seen Halloween costumes, pillowcases, curtains, quilts, and bags. They've helped me hem pants, patch jeans and so much more.
When other things aren't necessarily going the way I want them to, I just get one of them out and we work it out. They don't judge, they just say, let's meditate on this for a while, what are we going to make that's fun today?
Now granted it's a give and take relationship. While they take care of me, I also have to care for them. New needles, remove the lint, oil them up. But its like a lot of friendships, what one lacks, they other fills in with. With them I can do great things. Without, not so much. I found that out recently when one wa away at the 'doctor' and the other cracked its bobbin, and none around for a quick replacement. A quick trip to the store and we were back in business.
Making lots of Christmas things that will make lots of people smile with my two best friends whom I am thankful for,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

What's for dinner Wednesdays--Baked Tilapia

Okay two nights in a row, three if you count Sunday, but I actually did that post in the 'evening' hours, instead of the wee morning hours of the 'night before' like the last two posts............ By the time I finish typing this post, it will officially be BE Wednesday and the rest of my Wednesday is FULL to the brim, so knocking out my blog post early is the only way it would have gotten done this week. My friend with the blog who also does 'What's for Dinner Wednesdays' suggested I add this recipe one night while we were 'talking' on facebook. So Nicole, this one is for you, sista.
This week's installment of What's for Dinner Wednesday features my current favorite 'quick' main course, baked Tilapia. Now I am a farm wife with likely hundreds of dollars worth of beef in my freezer, but I also say variety is the spice of life and once in a while we eat 'other stuff' :) One of my current favorite, quick foods to prepare is tilapia. What's a tilapia? Hmmmmmmmm, well it's a fish, I couldn't tell you where its from, what it looks like or anything else, but I will mention, it tastes pretty darn good. I buy it in big bags at our local Sam's Club. It comes in a big bag, like this:

Inside the big bag, each portion is frozen and packaged singly. That's probably one of the things I like the best. I didn't know that was how it would be the first time that I purchased it, but it sure makes things handy. I can make a couple for The Farmer and I for lunch, or several depending on who is home and how hungry I guess everyone might be.

The first thing I do is line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil, mostly because it doesn't seem to stick to the foil as bad and makes clean up a lot quicker. I try and remember to preheat the oven to 375 degrees right now as well, sometimes that doesn't always happen, but we will pretend I remembered today. The first thing on the foil is about a tablespoon each of Olive Oil and Lemon Juice. I usually make 6 or so filets, if you are making less or more add the first two items accordingly.

This picture isn't very pretty but its oil and lemon juice. I make sure the whole pan surface gets covered and then turn both sides of each  FROZEN (no thawing, bake these guys frozen!) filet in this concoction to dampen them, so the stuff in the next step 'sticks' to the filets.

Okay next step, into a cereal bowl, add about 1/3 cup of corn meal, 1/3 cup of bread crumbs, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, and I am really guessing here, worse than the first three ingredients, 1 teaspoon each of season salt and lemon pepper. (Remember I am not a measurer, so these are guesstimates) I think mix them together. I will sprinkle this mixture onto the first side then flip and again onto the second side of each filet. (thinking I will never make money at writing easy to read recipe instructions) It will look like this:

Once you've covered both sides, slide that guy in the oven. It will need to bake for 30 minutes, at 375. While its cooking, you will likely have time from an adult beverage, might I suggest this..............

Tonights selection was a frozen strawberry margarita, from my 'bucket' in the freezer. You have time to sip away OR, time to prepare your sides, at our house, its generally a veggie and some sort of pasta, usually macaroni and cheese. We dont usually have a potato, unless they are mashed, as most of the scallop 'boxed' potatoes or frozen french fries don't go along with the lower oven temp to bake the fish. So drink that margarita or cook those sides, because pretty soon out of the oven will come this:

If you were lucky enough to get the moisture (lemon juice and olive oil) right and a good cover on the 'breading' they shouldn't stick and aren't too soggy, I make this once a week and have for months and about half the time mine isn't perfect, but I have NEVER EVER thrown any out. I am going to pretend that its because of my great cooking skills and not the fact that teenage boys will eat EVERYTHING and ALL OF IT that you put in front of them.
Sitting here moments after midnight thinking that instead of typing I should be sleeping as there's a long day ahead,
From Tulip~
KH
:)

Tune in Tuesday--50 Shades Trilogy

No this isn't gonna be real graphic, but there may be a few SHOUTY CAPITALS! ;) Okay so like millions of people in the last year, I have read the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy. Actually I will admit on here, that I have actually reread it, more than once. I have read other blog posts about it, I have watched the you-tube fanmade movie trailers, I am fan of a couple of the pages on facebook. And NO I am not a pervert, well maybe not, LOL.
Do I recommend this trilogy, yes I do. Not for the kinky sex, but the chemistry EL James created between Ana and Christian. While the author will say Christian is a 'fantasy' leading man, there are a lot of things about him that I found to be very believable. Wants what he wants, how and when he wants it, pretty normal. (maybe what he actually wants would make some peoples toes curl, not that, that is always a bad thing either) He works hard, he plays hard. And when he fell in love, he fell lock stock and barrel, throwing out the window all that he knew, for something he wanted more.
Then there's Ana, I almost think that her character is more fantasy than Christian's. How many 22 yr olds, find Mr. Perfect, land the dream job, end up married, pregnant and living their happily ever after within 3 months of graduating college? Oh we all have differing views of perfection, the dream, etc.....
Probably the most unbelievable thing to me in the entire book is the amount of constant drama, I will say at some point, maybe by beginning of the third book, maybe it was sooner, I had the thought NO ONE HAS THIS MUCH DRAMA.
The story is enduring, 'bad boy' with jacked up past, meets, falls in love with virginal innocent young woman. He reforms, they marry, the end......... The dialog in this book was the thing that drew me in. Not to say my husband is 50 Shades of anything and if he was, I wouldn't be posting about it on a blog that MY MOTHER reads. But I have had some of those similar conversations with my significant other. We all have, its the little parts, you are talking and all of the sudden, you say the wrong thing and they react totally the opposite way you expected. The raw emotion of falling in love and breaking down all the barriers with that person you love. And yes the cute little comments back and forth filled with sexual innuendo, we've all flirted with the person we love and the more intimate the relationship, yeap the more graphic the flirting, usually with most people behind closed doors.
I was entertained by Ana's constant 'in her own head' moments where she debates the situation with her subconscious (good angel) and her inner goddess (bad angel) I have no idea how that would be portrayed in the movie, and I don't think it will be part of it, unless its an 'inner voice' other wise the humor within those parts would take away from the real scene.
So if you haven't read 50 Shades, I say read it, yes there are some things that are a bit erotic, suck it up and get over it, there's way worse things, in my opinion. I am looking forward to the movie. I have a million opinions on who  I think should play who. I think that it will likely be unknowns, as this movie has the ability to 'make a star' out of its characters.
Just for fun, here are a few of my picks, although I realize there will never be this many 'bigger names' in the movie. I am torn on Christian. Ryan Gosling, Ian Somerhalder are probably my top two, but I wouldn't be upset with Matt Bomer, and there are several others including Channing Tatum that I have seen in other fan lists, that I would be okay with. Anastasia, I am pretty set on  Alexis Bedel, but again open to other ideas. I kinda like the idea of Kim Cattral as Elena Lincoln, but there are probably 4 or 5 others who seem to fit the part as well. I saw somewhere Mark Harmon as Carrick Grey, like that. Diane Lane as Grace Grey......... I have seen gobs of Jose options, not too picky on that one, same with Kate and Elliot, although someone mentioned Brad Cooper for Elliot, think he's too big of a name to play a supporting role. I can't come up with anyone I think is slimy enough to play Jack Hyde, in other words the picture in my minds eye, I haven't come across yet.
Okay so that's enough about 50 Shades. There are so many opinions about the book(s). I liked them, a lot, think what you will about that, but no judging unless you've read them, maybe more than once, LOL
Earliest I have ever posted a daily post but was still awake and had the idea rolling around in my head,
'Laters Baby' From Tulip~
KH
:)

Silent Sunday

Seth's Christmas Program



Noah and Cayla's Quilt




Noah and Cayla

 I think we ALL know I couldn't be TOTALLY silent,
From Tulip~
KH
:)