Sautéed Tilapia

Sautéed Tilapia

4  filets of Tilapia (thawed if frozen)
1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/8 tsp. parsley
1/8 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. butter or oil

Mix all but Tilapia in a flat bottom container such as a pie plate.

Dredging Tilapia in flour mixture.

Set a skillet to medium high heat Melt butter in pan. Dredge the tilapia through the flour mixture, coating each side. Place the coated tilapia filets in the pan in the pan and cook them on each side.  You can tell when sautéed tilapia is done when the flesh flakes easily with a fork. 

Sautéing tilapia in pan.

I hope everyone enjoys this one.  It's an easy recipe and very quick too, so make sure that your sides are prepared ahead of time.

COYOTE Drive-In Review

Coyote Drive-In, Fort Worth, TX

I was able to go to the brand new Coyote Drive-In near downtown Fort Worth last night.  I went with my husband and our two small girls ages 2 and 4.  We met our friends there who actually called us up early on Saturday to invite us with their 4 year old daughter.  They had went last weekend and actually only knew about it due to Brian seeing it from his pharmacy tech school located in downtown Fort Worth.

It was perfect.  All of us had been looking into going to a drive-in for a while now but the drive to Grandbury, Texas, to the Brazos Drive-In or others were all over an hour away.  That was just not going to happen without having to rent a hotel room to stay the night after attending the movies.  

Drive-Ins seem to be making a come back.  Maybe its because our generation remembers going to them regularly as children.  I remember going to one in Oklahoma City as a teenager occasionally.

I forgot how much fun going to a Drive-In was!  This one has three screens. All three were showing different double features.  The Coyote Drive-In was founded in 2011. They charge only per person in the car and not per carload.  This does add up.  The pricing last night was $8 for adults and $6 for children 3-6.  They have no military, student nor senior discounts yet so that cost our family $22.  We were told that they were working on the discounts and they will be coming soon.  They do take cash or credit/debit cards for entrance fees and concessions. They open the gates during the summertime at 6pm.  No outside food or drinks are allowed.

We arrived at 5:50pm and were in a line waiting to get in.  We were in one of three lines on different streets merging to the one entrance.  We were probably over the 30th car through the entrance gate.  They had traffic directors with hand cones to direct us into one of four gate lanes once through the main entrance gate.  I was impressed with the fact that they had two employees working each lane.  They were actually leap frogging the cars for the entrance fees so the line was moving pretty quick.  Once in we found the Murphy's at Screen 3.  We were going to see the double feature of Monster U and Now You See Me.  All 6 Movies playing were new movies at the regular indoor theaters.  I was quite impressed.  I would advise getting there early like we did.  It seemed like all three screens filled up pretty fast.

Coyote Canteen

My oldest daughter (center) at playground

We parked the car and walked over to the large outdoor partially covered Canteen.  We had a blast.  The shows weren't starting until around 8:30pm and we had almost 2 1/2 hours to kill.  Not a problem to do that here.  Their Canteen had several picnic tables and benches under the Canteen and out and around the grassy sections of the fenced in area. It was quite nice.  The Coyote Canteen had another fenced off Playground area in it, made out of boulders from the local area.  The bathrooms were located in the Canteen area and they had many stalls. The bathroom sinks were outdoor metal sinks located outside of the stall areas.   They were VERY Clean.

The concessions consisted of a large concessions area built into the Canteen with several options and checkout lines.  They do serve beer ($3) and wines too.  The wine is purchased by the bottle.

They also had 3 outdoor vendor truck stands set up around the outside areas of the covered Canteen area.  One sold food items, the other one was beverages and the third sold novelty items such as t-shirts, etc... 

Fun Social Environment before and during the shows.

I was also impressed with the fact that they had a mini-stage set-up with live music playing.  It was a nice environment to be in for everyone and we had a blast.  Again, I suggest you get to the Drive-In early, lock up your vehicle and head over to the Canteen.  Not only did all three screen areas fill up fast but so did the Canteen area.  There is no movie ticket required to enter the Canteen from 6pm-Close and there is free parking outside of the entrance area for those that choose to simply be patrons of the Canteen.

Overall, I was very impressed and can't wait to do it again! I would recommend going to the Coyote Drive-In.  We had a great time!  The large moon rising over the screen while it was playing, seeing shooting stars and the beautiful Fort Worth lit up skyline so close while watching the movies on a wonderful Texas summer night was priceless!  We along with several people actually got to see fireworks in the distance from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's 1812 Overture and Russian Sparklers concert playing at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. This is from their Concerts in the Garden Summer concert series. What a night!

The Coyote Drive-In is located at 223 NE 4th Street, Fort Worth, TX 76164.  Their contact number is 817-717-7767.  Click here for their website.  Click here for their Facebook page.

Coyote Drive-In sent our blog photos for approved publishing.  They also authorized usage of their logo on our blog. Thank you Coyote Drive-In!

Additional notation by author:  Although the Coyote Drive-In was founded in 2011, it has only recently opened its doors on May 10, 2013.

Donna's Easy Pea Salad

Ingredients

• 1 Package of Frozen Peas (12 oz)
• 1/3 c. light mayonnaise or less for preference
• 1 dollop to 1/4 cup of light sour cream (preference to taste)
• 1/2 cup of diced mild cheddar cheese (approx. 4 oz.)
• 1 green chopped green onion
• 4 oz precooked diced ham
• 1 diced hard boiled egg

Directions

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and season to taste. Peas must be frozen when mixed with ingredients to avoid mashing of the peas. Keep refrigerated until served.

Footnotes

• Peas must be frozen when mixed with ingredients to avoid mashing of the peas. I use an egg slicer to dice the egg for a faster process. I find that small diced ham and cheese work better. I buy the block cheese and use about 1/4 of a 16 oz block. I also use precooked diced ham. I prefer the green onion over a white, yellow or sweet onion. ENJOY!

 

Honored by AVON

Today I have the honor of attending an AVON division President Club's Luncheon due to my sales success with AVON.  My husband and I have also have the distinct honor of being asked to speak about our success while there.

I'm so honored and very frightened.  Public speaking on stage is one of my greatest fears.  This is a hurdle that I need to cross.  Once I have done it....look out world!  I will conquer this fear.  My husband will be on stage with me for my support.  I am excited and hope that I do well today.  Besides, it's only 3-5 minutes, right?

We have only been with AVON for eight months and we have become the top sellers in our district.  We acknowledge that our success is through gaining knowledge wherever we can, marketing our business and having great customer service.  If you're interested in joining our team and learning how to succeed simply click here and enter reference code: donnadarrah.  We'll lead you to the knowledge of success but you must act upon that knowledge to succeed!

Best New Performer Award in District

Sales Level Advancement-We not only made President Club Level but Honor's Society too!

UPDATE:  Richard and I won the Best New Performer Award for our district!  Woohoo!  Our projected sales numbers that the Division Sales Manager posted were amazing!  We'll see if we can even can even get close to that $100K+ amount she was talking about.  Phew!  That will be a LOT more work!

Receiving our Best New Performer In District Award

#1 Sales Increase under my Upline's Unit

Mrs. Albee Award for being a PC member

AMAZING GRACE IN CHEROKEE - NATIVE AMERICAN

AVON Collects Donations to Support Oklahoma

This is another reason that I love AVON. Avon is promoting this at checkout on my online store. It is only available to those that submit direct delivery orders from anywhere in the country. Yes, the donation is tax deductible and exempt taxes as indicated in the small print. OK is due for more tornado activity with storms starting tomorrow night. They just can't catch a break. Please donate to the Okies anyway you can. www.youravon.com/donnadarrah

Memorial Day Weekend in Austin

Our family had a wonderful time in Austin this past Memorial Day weekend. We started out leaving immediately after I got off work on Friday for the drive to Austin from the DFW area.  Richard picked me up from work and we headed south around 5:30 pm Friday night.  We thought we were making great time using the new toll road cutting south through the middle of the metro plex until we  were about to get onto I-35W down by Burleson after stopping at a drive thru window to get the girls some oh-so-healthy McDonald's for dinner.  BAM!  Lightening, high winds, dark skies and oh, did I mention the tornado watch?  Yes, I discovered we were in a tornado watch when I scrambled to the weather app on my iPhone.  Great.  We were loaded down with our whole family and hauling a U-haul trailer full of baby stuff down to Austin in a severe thunderstorm.

We managed to make it to our hotel in Austin around 11:30pm after the packed commute down I-35. Still not bad considering much of the I-35 commute was between 10-45 miles per hour.  We made up some serious time when we hit the new toll road around Austin.  The rain had lightened up and did I metion that the speed limit on this new road was 80 mph?  YES!  

After checking in and carrying the girls up to our room at the Staybridge Suites we needed to pull out the sleeper sofa for the girls.  I was using points for the three nights at Staybridge Suites so we could only get a studio suite.  Of course as soon as we start pulling out the sleeper both of our girls became wide awake and bouncing off of the walls.  Besides, they had had a good rest and nap in the Acadia.  Ugh.  Well, after settling in for the night we were able to finally get to sleep (Richard on the sleeper sofa with Brie and I on the bed with our oldest, Abby) around 12:30 am. 

Brie managed to wake us around 6:30am on Saturday morning all happy and energitic to start the day.  We managed to access the free breakfast and slowly get moving.  We made it to his brother's home in Kyle around 10:30am with the trailer full of baby stuff for them.  Their new baby girl is due at the end of August.  Richard and his brother Allen took the trailer to a U-Haul drop off to turn it in after unloading it.  We then decided to hang out around their home and visit while the  girls played with their cousins.  It was a rainy day after all.  

Around 2pm we all decided to take the kids out to CiCi's Pizza to get them out of the house.  Let me remind everyone that my 4 year old has a severe dislike to Pizza.  She absolutely detests it.  I don't know why but she thinks it is gross and won't touch it.  We have to feed her before and after birthday parties that have pizza to avoid the pizza drama.  Ok, well, I was delighted to see that CiCi's has more than just pizza.  Abby was happy with the salad bar and the pasta bar area.  She even went after a brownie.  Great!  Brie was very happy.  She absolutely loves pizza!  She loved shaking the parmazon cheese all over the four slices of pizza that she had.  The weather was starting to clear up and Allen's family had to go to a Boy Scout planning gathering at 5pm so we headed back to our hotel.  Yes, I'm still in disbelief that they had a planning meeting on Memorial Day weekend....

We had fun when we got back to the hotel.  The weather had broken for  the rest of the afternoon and the girls wanted to hit the pool.  We were the only patrons brave enought to hit the outdoor pool first. Let's just say that the pool was very cool, lol.  But parents do crazy things for their children and ours needed to burn some energy off to be able to sleep for a big day on Sunday.  Keep in mind that the naptime is usually to the wayside when our girls are excited about activities.

Everything was fine until Brie climbed out of the pool's edge and backed away slowly with that concentrated look on her face...."Brie, do you need to go to the potty?" I cautiously ask.  "I poop", was her response.  Ugh!  Poop in the bathing suit is the worst!  I couldn't believe it.  I had just asked her if she need to go to the potty a minute earlier before helping her to the edge of the pool.  She smiles and slowly heads towards the chair with the towel.  As she turns I see the turtle head like structure protruding in her swim bottoms.  I'm thankful she at least waited until after she got out of the water.....off to the room we go for clean up while daddy and Abby continue their fun adventures in the pool.

The next day we rode the Duck Tour Adventures from 6th street in downtown Austin.  It was fun.  The girls loved it when the pirate ship painted tour bus turned into a boat and we entered lake Austin.  I had no idea that so many movie stars were starting to call Austin home now either.  Wow!  We decided not to go see the bats afterwards due to the rainy and overcast weather.  There will always be another trip to go see the largest urban bat colony in the world come out at dusk for their nightly feedings.  We figured that the grassy areas for viewing would have been too muddy.  We opted for a Mexican dinner with all eight of our family party down on 6th street. We headed back to the hotel for a little rest prior to heading over to our family's home for movie night.  The girls absolutely had a blast playing and visiting with their cousins.

We headed back home on Monday morning and I was happy to say we beat most of the holiday traffic and rain on the trip back.  We love visiting Austin.  Next time we'll have to go see the bats and I want to take a trip to the farmer's market on Saturday morning.  There's so much to do there that we'll just have to visit more often to get it all in.