Today was really hectic for my household. We did serious cleaning and got ready to do some serious cooking in preparation for our family’s Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

I bought a fresh turkey at the grocery store yesterday. It is huge – 24 pounds! My mother and dad were big fans of fresh turkey rather than frozen ones. In fact, my dad used to order up a whole truckload of fresh turkeys every year and give them out to every one of his employees on the Monday before Thanksgiving, and he gave them off the day plus the day after Thanksgiving so they could all be at home with their families.

Those values of taking care of your employees and promoting strong families is not very apparent in today’s corporate world. In many ways, my dad felt that Thanksgiving was more important than Christmas as far as bringing together families and being grateful for what you have, and I feel the same way.

Has anyone done a side by side comparison of the calories, fat, and nutritional content of the popular breakfast foods? I would like to know if there is any nutritional difference between eating cold pizza, chocolate chips cookies, and a bowl of Sugar Corn Pops.

For me, a good morning starts off with a cup of fresh brewed coffee and 3-4 bites of something like an English Muffin or a biscotti to get something on my stomach. Some mornings I’ll have a small slice of coffee cake or a doughnut. But having sweets in the house is rare -we don’t even have doughnuts once a month – more like 2 – 4 times a year.

When I do have something in limited quantity or frequency, when I do have that item I want it to be the best – the freshest, the warmest right from the oven, the most gourmet version – whatever makes it the best.

My grandmother used to have a little bronze knick knack of three monkeys sitting next to each other. She would keep it on the fireplace mantle. I remember asking her why the monkeys were covering up different parts of their heads with their hands.

It was for the proverb “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.” I wish I had that on my desk to remind people – even myself – of the importance of that wisdom.

If the TV show, “The Price is Right” comes on my TV, then either I am very late for work or I am at home, too sick to go out. I do not like this show at all. I think it is just one step above the Jerry Springer show for displaying people at their worst. However, I reluctantly admit that it may be on my TV for short periods of time every once in a great while. At least until I find the remote to change the channel or turn it off.

It has always bothered me that so many of the “games” featured on this show involve guessing the retail price of an assortment of items. I wonder if anyone has ever actually audited the show’s claims of the correct prices? Sometimes when the person has to decide between an box of DiGel and a bottle or Mr. Clean floor cleaner, I wonder if the actual price from a local store is displayed or did someone backstage arrange for the prices to predetermine a winner?

Is the price shown what you would pay at a full service grocery store or at a discount store like WalMart? Does anyone check this out and verify the prices shown are actual prices on a shelf someplace?

This morning there was frost on the grass in my yard for the first time this fall season. It was so cold that I needed a real coat while I walked the dogs – just a sweatshirt was not enough to keep me warm.

I decided I should dig through my closet and find my warm gloves. My winter coat from last year is still in good shape, so I don’t think I’ll worry with buying a new coat this winter.

The trees have all turned color and the wind is making them drop pretty quickly now. I think this week has been the peak for our area – it has been a beautiful show so far and the fall colors is one of the reasons that I love to live here. This next weekend we’ll have to get out the rakes and get some of these leaves up – if it is not raining it can be fun and it is good exercise, too.

The news is in – Barack Obama has been declared the next President of the U.S.A.

Obama pulled enough electoral votes to be declared the winner at 10:30 pm, even without all the actual votes actually reported. In fact, some of the talking heads are predicting that McCain will have won the most popular votes. But popular is not enough. He needed 2 or 3 more red states for the electoral majority and it didn’t happen.

So these will be some interesting times for America these next several years.