May your turkey be tender
and your cider hard.

May your potatoes be mashed
with butter not lard.

May your table be bountiful
and your spirits high.

May you have fresh whipped cream
on your pumpkin pie!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Flossing and I have had a long history of mishaps. Once I pulled down too hard on the floss and sliced open my gum. I'm sure that's not proper flossing technique so I actually watched a video on youtube to see how most people flossed. I realized they didn't use the extreme force I did and they did not maniacally saw at their teeth as was my style -- so I've changed my way and am much more gentle.

Still, gentle or not, I managed to mangle a tooth that was tenuous at best after being filled and drilled numerous times since I was a child. A combination of teeth grinding ( you don't want to know the annoying things that have gotten me grinding my teeth at night again) and my simple desire to keep my teeth debris-free ended up with a large hunk of tooth plus filling sliding down my throat. I ate it. How lovely.

But, my wonderful dentist Dr Kozinn immediately came to my rescue and now I'm sporting a lovely temporary cap which fits just like a real tooth! Thank you Dr. K for your expertise with the needle and your quick and gentle ways.

There was a time prior to Dr. Kozinn that I would ruminate and worry for years before I would call for help from a dentist. Now I'm just about 99 percent phobia-free and that's because my dentist is the best! If you suffer from dental phobia don't give up looking for dentist who cares. They are out there and it was my lucky day when I found Dr. K.

Speaking of lucky days, I am finding myself without a dinner date tonight, and am so happy Doc and DJ have taken pity on me and are coming to keep me company. I don't mind eating alone, but I hate drinking alone and a bottle of wine is meant to be shared.

Cheers!

America has spoken and hope has won over fear. Thank you America, thank you so very much.

Going on record:

I was in line to vote at 5:30 AM this morning. By the time I left, a line snaked around the polling place. I can't imagine how everyone who wants to vote is going to be able to vote. People behind me were talking about having to leave to get to work and coming back later. I assume that later the line will extend to the next town at the rate it was growing.

The scanner system sucks and there is no privacy of the vote anymore.

I could see other people's ballots and who they voted for -- Obama! which made me happy, but I wasn't happy that both my ballot and my husband's were rejected by the scanner at least 2 times. We had even left the polling place when someone hollered to us in the parking lot that our ballot and popped out again. This is nuts. People were crowded around the scanner trying to get their ballot in the slot while our ballots were being handled and rehandled.

Back in we went and some stranger said he'd put it in again for us...great.

I don't get the feeling I voted and I don't like that feeling.

There is a counter somewhere on the scanner and I didn't realize that so I suggest you watch carefully to see the counter advance after you submit your ballot.

Let's find a better, safer, tamper-proof and PRIVATE way to vote for the next election.

These scanners suck. I should be thrilled now having cast a historic vote for the first black candidate for president. Instead I am not sure my vote counted.

Bring back the old and private machines -- anythings better than these scanners!!

What an insipid campaign the Repubs put together this year. You could sum it up with the following:

maverick
my friends
winking
blowing kisses
nose wrinkling
Joe the Plumber though his name isn't Joe and he isn't a licensed plumber but he is McCain's hero according to McCain.
150 thousand dollar makeover for the Palins
lipstick on a pig
pitbulls with lipstick
red patent leather pumps
dropping the puck which turned out to be bad bad luck
future son in law chewing on gum in his very costly clothing
daughter covered in a huge blanket to hide a growing unwed belly
Palin's inability to speak without a script
"New Q ler" back in vogue
watching a 7 year old wrestle with a 6 month old special needs infant while mama campaigns
Palin praying with her witchcraft believing pastor
Smiling Todd, cute but vacuous
Palin refusing to answer questions in the debate, refusing to release her health records and lying almost every time she opened her mouth: bridge to nowhere; sold plane on ebay; fired the chef; etc. etc.
Cindy wearing Crayola colors from the box of eight, so someone would notice her.
air quotes, lots of them, from McCain
Putin rearing his head over Alaska
a photo of Palin and daughter by a bloody caribou corpse
Palin walking around on a stage in a bathing suit
McCain walking around a town hall meeting as if he'd forgotten to take his medication

All of the above pointing to a party that has permanently eschewed intelligence and class, poise and sophistication, education and understanding, moderation and most of all thinking.

A repugnant Republican campaign.

Ick