Oh, HAPPY DAY! Mike has a wonderful new job!! Big huge answer to prayer and thanks to everyone who kept the prayers going. We love you! God is so good to us!!!

That AOL article about cooking your Thanksgiving dinner in 30 minutes. Well, I got so happy tonight that even though we are going to be guests for Thanksgiving dinner, I decided to run to the store and get a turkey and all the main stuff so I can cook our own dinner on Friday. It took me 30 minutes from the time I left my driveway to the time I came back home to my driveway. So even though not in a million years could I cook in 30 minutes, I have derived a lot of satisfaction from shopping in 30 minutes. It was totally sponataneous and I came home with lots of shortcuts for an already abbreviated menu. Seriously, I was going for sweet potatoes and pecans to make a dish to take tomorrow, but I came home with you name it. And it has left me feeling a little smug, savvy, smart and sassy.

Did you know you can buy those neat little carton/boxes of organic turkey gravy? I didn't until tonight. I also bought pumkin pie in a carton, just pour, add egg and pour into a graham cracker crust. Lots of pouring. Normally, this is not my style, but it is this time and I shall have to let you know the results. At least the graham cracker is organic, ha! Will cook some real cranberries, that only takes a second, and stir in some jarred cranberries, too, and lemon. Sweet tater casserole, which makes everything else taste all the better, mashed taters, peas. Stuffing. I even broke down and bought a tub of organic pre-diced celery and onion to go in the stuffing. That happened because it looked interesting and upon closer examination, it looked all fresh and beautiful. And it had to be sold by Nov. 28 and there were lots of these tubs left. It was a new item the health food store was carrying and I didn't want them to be disappointed and stuck with buckets of diced celery and onion. So I did my part. I am suddenly such in the mood to do my part.

Oh, and speaking of onion, I bought an impulse bag of tiny pearl onions. Only because Annie used to make creamed pearl onions for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I have no idea how to make them so I asked the check-out girl. She said her grandmother from Holland used to boil them. I said, Do you cut the ends off first? She thought so. And then on second thought she suggested, GOOGLE it. Good idea.

And finally, speaking of mashed potatoes, my friend the excellent cook, she made her potatoes last night and, horror of horrors, they went pasty on her. She appreciates pasty potatoes about as much as I do. I sympathized and said when mine whip into paste it's so depressing that I want to dig a hole and bury them. Except I worked too hard on them to do that, so we eat them and I suffer. My friend is going to turn hers into potato pancakes. She read up on it and found out you need to add the butter first. This coats the molecules (that is as scientific as I want to get, but she said there was an entire deep scientific explanation). Then you add your milk and mash. Of course, I always dry my potatoes back on the burner, but sometimes they still revolt into paste, so now butter goes in first. I hope I remember this come tater time. Mashed potatoes are entirely too much work to be a failure, they must be a success or at least salvaged at all costs.

I read on Facebook that this guy was hoping his Thanksgiving would be perfect, just like he remembered his childhood Thanksgivings. I hope it's PERFECT perfect for him.

Happiest of All Thanksgivings to EVERYONE!
KEM