Happy Thanksgiving!

Today’s the day we count our blessings.

And I have many. Starting with my beautiful wife, and great kids and grandkids.

I’m also thankful for God giving me an amazing mind that can think abstractly effortlessly.

Honestly, I’m not bragging. I had a boss tell me once that he was sick of me bringing up seemingly innocuous pieces of information (dots), telling him how they were going to fck him, and end up being right. All I could do was smile and offer to buy him a beer after work.

It’s a gift.

This will be an odd holiday. For the first time, it’ll just be us and the boy. Herself has invited a somewhat needy dude from Church. Hope the doggos don’t try to kill him.

But in my normal forward thinking manner, I’ve had everything I’ve needed to cook a classic SW Louisiana Thanksgiving dinner for over a month.

It’s also the first Thanksgiving where Herself and I are on a serious diet. I was going to vent and bag on the program, because it is, after all, like all of them – Forced calorie control via food choice and rightsized portions. Maybe later I will. That said, it’s only been a week or so and I’m down ten pounds. To be fair, It’s Herself’s doing as she wanted me to do it with her. So I signed up. For a month only.

Much as I’d like to brag, I know as well as anyone it’s the dearth of alcohol, fast food, smaller portions, with super controlled snacking. To be honest, what they have on the menu for me at breakfast is way more than I’d normally eat. So I haven’t been. And minding portions has shrunk my stomach to the point where I’m not often hungry and when I eat, I don’t want to eat nearly as much.

But back to the diet. I’ll be making some of the classics somewhat differently. I consider dirty rice made with brown and wild rice apostacy. But I’m up for the challenge to see if I can make it work. I’ve been cooking some really tasty food within the boundaries they set, so I consider this a challenge.

Besides, I have several tubs of dirty rice mix – the real stuff with all the dirty guts – in the freezer if I end up jonesing for the real deal.

I have a great family, great Church, great supportive friends and brothers in Christ.

So plenty to be thankful for in spite of the short-bus crowd running the show.

Have a great and blessed day. Ignore the silliness for the weekend and recognize where God is active in our world, and be properly thankful.

Now, excuse me as I finish caffeinating and start the cooking with my holiday knife sharpening ritual.