I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving, though with the continuing spike in gas prices, i guess it's gonna cost a small fortune to drive the 3 hours down to my dad's in NJ.

This will be the 1st time ever that i'll be heading down his way to spend the day with him, his longtime gal pal, and whatever assorted offspring show up, possibly my 2 half-brothers and possible girlfriend's, plus my dad's girlfriend's 3 kids, tho one lives overseas.

I will do another T-giving dinner on Saturday with my mom and sister. I will surely be stuffed by that time.

Anyway, i'm planning on getting out of work a few hours early on Wednesday so i can do some cooking. It's got to travel well, so i'm planning on doing cornbread and a cranberry/grape relish and if i have time/energy, cranberry bars.

I'm bursting to tell you my big news but perhaps not in my best interests at the present time. I don't mean to sound so damned mysterious, but maybe later.....if you're really dying to know, send me a private message.

Back to T-giving, i hope to be on the road by 8 a.m. that a.m. so that would put me at dad's front doorstep at 11 a.m., provided there's no traffic which of course is a ridiculous thought.

was supposed to go to a country/blues/jazz concert featuring a 3-band lineup tonight. I had invited a friend who agreed to go a few weeks ago, but then when i called him last night to confirm it was a go, he couldn't talk and said he would call me back later. That was around 6:30 p.m. and i went to bed very early last night, taking the phone off the hook so i wouldn't be disturbed, as sleep is very important to me and i don't usually sleep well in general.

Anyway, once in the office here, i realized i don't have his cell number with me and i have no idea if he's remembered we were supposed to go to the concert tonight or if maybe some sort of family emergency came up or what. i sent him an email but i have a feeling he won't see it.

so i guess i'm not going to the concert tonight. i sure hope he's not waiting for me. But it's an hour drive down there and i don't want to drive it for nothing.

the concert would've been fun, but on a worknight it's a bit of a trek. I got the tickets free (valued at $70 each cus it was a fundraiser), after doing some PR for the guy who organized the event.

so now i'm thinking i want to go to the local library's book club discussion group which also meets tonight. Hamlet's Dresser is the book, and it was pretty interesting. (I read it.) But i'm not 100% sure about what my friend thinks. Maybe he thinks i'm gonna show up tonight, altho we hadn't talked about it since a few weeks ago when i first told him about it. I hope he's not upset when i don't show....