My one Avocado recipe - FMW

Today is Recipe Rally at my new "hang out" - Family My Way! The theme for the day is Avocados. Hmmmmm, I didn't have to think too long about my fav green recipe. In fact, it'll take me longer to type it than it did to decide which one I wanted to share.

Mainly because this is the ONLY time I EVER eat Avocados. **Giggles**

Maybe I'll find some new Green mushy slimy recipes to try after today.

I patterned this after my favorite meal in the whole wide world. In fact, if ever for some unknown reason I am on death row and I get a last meal...?

Well, I'm just sayin'...ya' know!?! It's THAT good!

Plus, it'd probably buy me some time. Because I found this delicious culinary treat at a small funky restaurant over on the coast of my state. And at the risk of being sued for stealing their recipe, I will say that what I'm entering here is a just a sad imitation of the real thing. In order to really relish the experience, one needs to soak in the hippy-ish ambiance of the Riverhouse. Nice glassa wine, Potato Salad that makes you DROOL with a little olive on top, a tuft of sprouts on the plate to add crunch to the sandwich if you so choose. And for dessert? Their carrot cake is so good it brings tears to your eyes! No Joke!

Anyway, they serve this treat cold or open-faced hot. I like the open faced hot one...and I conveniently forget the tomatoes. Mainly cuz tomatoes make me gag.

Janean's Poor Imitation of a Turkey Gobbler

Stuff you will need -

two slices of nice sourdough bread
Cream cheese - softened
Thinly sliced deli turkey breast
A tomato if you want it
Good ripe avocado
Monterey Jack cheese
Grated Parmesan

now assemble this thing on a cookie sheet or some other flat pan you can put in the oven. Toaster ovens work great. Lay out your bread slices side by side and spread with the cream cheese. The next layer is the turkey; pile it on according to your taste. Peel and slice the avocado and arrange those on for the next layer. Then would come your tomato slices (ERK) if you so choose. Sprinkle the whole delectable pile with salt and pepper to your taste. Now cover both halves with generous slices of the Jack cheese. To finish off, I love REAL grated Parmesan (not that powdered stuff that comes in a plastic can) so drizzle that over the sandwich.

Broil for a couple of minutes till the cheese is starting to bubble and turn golden in spots. ENJOY with your favorite Alfalfa sprouts, salad or just on it's own. Cuz it's enough to feed two people EASY.

Have a good one!

My First "Writing Wednesday"..

Today is "Writing Wednesday" at Family My Way. The theme for the week is:
I Remember...

This is an easy one for me to write about today. Memories have been flooding my brain for the last 48 hours. I did a search on my blog today to see if I have ever written about this...and realized I never have. Did make passing mention of it in a quiz I did about two years ago, but that was the extent of it.

I'm lucky in the fact that I am on a VOLUNTEER rescue squad. I can CHOOSE to go if I want to. The reality is that there are five spots on the rescue unit and usually about 10 of us vying for the spaces so we can get the experience. So I try to be fair and back off sometimes so others can have a chance.

And I listen to the tones. After the beeps and boops, they give a short rundown on what you are looking at dealing with as you run out the door for the station. So there is one kind of call I don't respond on. I just don't. For my own mental health.

And that would be suicides.

12 years ago this week a family friend called me up saying his back hurt and his knee hurt and he wanted to know if my husband or I could take him to the emergency room. Hub had to work the next day so I put little boy to bed and drove to his house.
The door was locked but I knew where the key was. How strange. All the lights are off and he's in bed. The hair is standing up on the back of my neck. He's crying and not making much sense. "Hey, Dude! I'm here! Are you coming with me to the hospital?" I just get moaning and groaning in answer.
All of a sudden, he throws back the blankets and says "God Da*n it!" I step backward up the hallway because I know he's in his tidy whitey's and I'm trying to be modest here.
But what is he doing? He's reaching up into the top of the closet. I remember looking at him so puzzled. It just wasn't registering in my mind what was going on. Even as the slide action snaps and he turns to look at me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen. Even as the gun presses against his temple.

And I close my eyes...turn my head. I can feel the percussion of the shot against my body. Hear the thump as he falls. I can't help myself...I turn and look.
What I see will forever be burned in my brain. White gym socks, skinny 45 year old legs and white briefs disappearing into the closet.
Beside me on the clothes washer is the phone. I dial 911 and lean against the wall...calling for help. My friend shot himself. Right here next to me. In the hall of this crappy little mobile home. I don't know the address but we are right next to this gas station.

WHAT?!?! you want me to WHAT?!?! Go CHECK HIM and see if he's BREATHING!?! OH, please don't ask me to do that! I can't, I can't.

Then the smell hits me. Like a wave rolling up the hallway. Copper, hot, cloying, I'm gagging. I run for the front room as the dispatcher asks me to spell my name. I do and then she tells me to calm down. I don't understand what she means...I am perfectly calm. My voice is shaking some and I am breathing hard but...

then here comes the smell again and I hit the front door, running to the far end of the porch. I can hear sirens in the distance and the hysteria hits. I drop the phone on the porch and curl up on the deck screaming as the deputy runs by me into the house.

They said if he would have done that on the front steps of the hospital, they could not have saved him. And I was angry at him for quite awhile for taking away the friend we loved, my son's favorite hero and for bringing me to the brink of insanity.

It's taken me alot of working, praying, and dealing to be able to live with the pictures in my head.
So I try not to put myself in those situations where my sanity might be tested.

Twenty after midnight - wee hours of Tuesday morning. Jerked out of a sound sleep by rescue tones. OK..not so sound sleep - the lights were still on and I had fallen asleep on my text book again. But I struggle to get my clothes on as I hear the call for an Echo Level Cardiac Arrest.
OK. I can do that.
Out the door, to the station, on the rescue and off we go.
Halfway there, dispatch says "additional information". Head wound...face down in the bathroom...unsecured firearm...caller refuses to do CPR.

OHHHHH no, no, no, no. DEJA VU. Can I do this?

A few deep breaths and I whisper to the lady on my left whats up. Ask her to keep an eye on me just in case I lose it.
And we have to "stage" or wait for law enforcement because there is a firearm involved. It takes the deputies about 10 minutes to get there, clear the scene and call us in.
Which means that since the decedent was discovered, all the time it took us to get on the rescue and get rollin', all the time we were staging and the deputy was securing the scene...no circulation.
Which means this is all a formality.
Which we all realize it was anyway when we go in to run a strip on her. Of course it's flatline. The heart tends to stop when it's control center about 18 inches above it is removed by a .38 slug.

Another picture...burned in my brain for all time. I spent most of the day wearing dark glasses just in case the tears started to roll. But I'm doing ok. Thanks for letting me share what I remember.

It helps. Trust me, it definitely helps.

Friends or Siblings?

GUESS WHAT! INCREDIBLE WONDERFUL NEWS!!

It's Photo Frenzy Monday over at Family My Way!

The theme is friendship...So I'm joinin' in!

And here's my submission -

This is number three and number one.
It blesses my heart when my kids are actually FRIENDS
because they CHOOSE to be.

a welcome change from all the squabbling.
Sometimes I feel like a referee instead of a mom.
Which makes it all the more AWESOME when they hang out
in a friendly kinda way.

Family...MY way!

My friend CJ is jumping in with both feet over at Family My Way. I don't know if you remember or not, but I wrote about it a couple of weeks ago. She used to run a GREAT site called Crazy Hip Blog Mamas. Of course, you KNOW I had to be a member of a site with THAT name!

Anyway, she's getting things up and rolling. Membership is free. Forums, blogroll, and great weekly features like...

Photo Frenzy Monday. Check.

Recipe Rally Tuesday. Check.

Writing Wednesday? Check!

She would like contributions from you (or me) for Parenting Thursday. Give it a shot! You never know...they might pick you!

At first, I wasn't sure what the purpose of the site was. What does "Family My Way" mean? Here's a little excerpt from their 2008 press release.
“This online community is for anyone wondering, ‘Are there other families like ours, facing the same issues,” says Maggie Sayer, founder of Family My Way. “From the traditional family with a white picket fence and 2.5 children, to two dogs and two daddies, to the single person with four dogs and a ferret...family is subjective. Gay, straight, black, white or purple I envision a place where everyone is welcome. Family My Way recognizes the variety in today’s modern families, and celebrates how they tackle challenges brought on by traditional expectations and social norms.”

As soon as I can, I'll pick up a button and get it in my sidebar...
Please give them a "look see"...

"Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world!"

**EXTRA, EXTRA! Read all about IT...

Any of you who have been visiting me for a while, know that I used to write for and hang out with the Crazy Hip Blog Mamas. They had lots of cool memes and contests and free stuff and ... Well, the NAME alone was enough to endear them to my heart, ya' know?!?

Well, they decided to end their run on the 'net and were gone for awhile, but now my good friend has decided to join forces with an interesting site called Family My Way.

Please, please, please go check them out. For me? if not for me, at least do it to satisfy your curiosity. Never know, it might grow on you.

Hopefully, I'll see ya' there!