Wow, wow, WOW! Walmart today announced an entire Thanksgiving weekend jam-packed with great products and prices. So exciting!

Check out the full advertisement online at Walmart.com. And remember, it isn't only about the day-after-Thanksgiving early morning deals; we have a whole weekend of events and special offers to help shoppers save even more.

Kicking off the weekend events is Walmart.com. On Thanksgiving Day, Walmart.com will offer nearly 50 online-only specials with savings up to 40 percent on many of the season’s top gifts. All are available for free shipping with Site to Store. I have a sneak peek into some of the products and prices that have already been confirmed, and they include Philips Noise Canceling Headphones for under $20 and the Garmin Nuvi 205 GPS for less than $100. I want both, so if you’re listening, Santa, take notes!

After I get those items at Walmart.com on Thursday, it’s enjoying Thanksgiving Day with lots of eating and football and family. Alas, I can’t stay up too late playing card games and reminiscing. I need my rest so I can get to the Walmart store early on Friday for the stuff I want during the 5-11 a.m. event.

On my list so far from the 5-11 a.m. store event is a Canopy 600-thread-count-sheet set for $24, a Magnavox Blu-Ray disc player for just $78, and maybe an Emerson 42-inch Plasma for $448. I haven't decided yet if I want the Emerson or if I want to instead get one of the Samsung HDTVs available during a special Saturday event. There is a Samsung 46” 1080P LCD HDTV for $848 at Walmart stores on Saturday that I’d love to have in my living room! I just got cable for the first time (and yes, I mean the first time ever in my life, so go ahead and lift up your jaw if it dropped) a few months ago, and I already feel the need for a bigger, better television. I wouldn’t want these great brands and prices to pass me by. We shall see what ends up in my cart.

I’m also jazzed that this year I can go to Walmart.com and download a store map that shows exactly where the products I want will be on Friday morning. It will make planning easier.

There are some great all-day Friday deals that I want to pick up for gifts, like the DVD of Star Trek and GI Joe for only $9, the Kodak Wireless AIO Printer for $99, and a $50 Brother sewing machine. Okay, so maybe, just maybe, one or two of those may be gifts for me too!

Whew. After seeing it in writing, I realize that’s a lot of shopping. Money well spent though, considering the dollars I’ll save by taking advantage of the special pricing.

What’s on your “must get” list for the weekend?

Happy shopping, all, and have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

The Easter bunny is by now nearly ready to hop into homes across the world! And, moms across the country are preparing menus for Easter Sunday. Bring out the hams!

Do you ever wonder why so many people eat ham on Easter Sunday? Well I did.

I found all kinds of things on the internet related to the tradition of serving Easter ham in the U.S. Most indicate that many years ago hogs were slaughtered in the fall and the curing process usually took until the spring so the first hams were ready to eat around the time Easter came around.

Makes sense to me, but imagine having to wait all those months for some ham!

I also found references that the pig was considered a symbol of luck in pre-Christian Europe, which could explain the popularity of the Easter ham tradition among Europeans and Americans. And popular it is – a spokesperson from the National Pork Board is quoted saying 70 percent of Americans serve ham for the Easter holiday.

And you have Easter eggs, the eating of and dying of. There is a lot of information related to this tradition online. All very interesting such as a reference to how in Medieval Europe eggs weren’t allowed to be eaten during Lent so the eggs laid during that time were preserved and, thus, a mainstay of Easter meals and a common gift for children and servants.

And, speaking of eggs, did you know … Walmart will sell enough eggs during this Easter season to travel around the world once if the eggs were laid end to end. That’s a lot of eggs!

And, goodness, don’t get me started on the incredible Easter candy. Not sure it’s an old school “tradition” but for me it is! It’s like Girl Scout cookie season for me because I stock up on Easter candy. Crazy I know, but I can only get Cadbury mini eggs, black licorice jelly beans, Robin’s eggs and Peeps this time of year. Although, I noticed for Christmas there were Cadbury ornament eggs or something at Walmart, so maybe a few times a year. Very yummy.

I need these things more than once a year, people … maybe I can start a movement to make black licorice jelly beans a Halloween tradition. Who’s with me??? Anybody?? Nobody? Okay, moving on …

Whether you’re having ham or turkey or you’re a fan of black licorice jelly beans or not (and I recommend you should be), celebrate this holiday weekend heartily. After all, coming together with family and friends for a great meal is one of the best investments around today.

Happy Easter!

Valentine’s Day is coming! I’m a believer that celebrating Valentine’s Day isn’t just about ‘romantic’ loved ones, but family and friends. Well, that could be due to my lack of a romantic loved one, but I’ll save that for another blog :)

All my family and many great friends live nowhere near me, so I plan to buy the recordable and the funky musical cards for a few. How great to be able to send a personalized voice greeting in a cute card, especially across the miles. Love it! For most others, I want to keep it just as funky and original, but a more reasonable spend. If I were gifted enough, I'd buy some crafty stuff and make some really unique cards, but I'm not that gifted when it comes to crafting! I’ve decided online greetings are the way to go for me. They get the point across, contribute to my PSP of reducing paper use, and there are plenty of options to choose from.

Hallmark.com has some great e-card greetings, although some of the best ones you have to pay to send. American Greetings.com … ditto. I am a big fan of Care2.com where you can send, for free, Valentine’s Day e-cards and with every e-card sent Care2 makes a donation to an environmental nonprofit to save a square foot of rainforest. Very cool.

Walmart.com has some great greeting options. If you have an iPhone, Walmart has partnered with Hershey’s to create a “Blow a Kiss” greeting for Valentine’s Day. You blow a kiss into the iPhone microphone and the person on the other end receives it on their iPhone or in their e-mail box. Unfortunately, I don’t have an iPhone, and for those interested in a good Valentine’s gift for me … there’s an idea, ha! Okay, so if I can’t get the iPhone I’m just hoping someone cares enough to send me a kiss from theirs.

There’s also available on Walmart.com an online greeting the takes a picture you upload and creates a mosaic out of tiny “virtual” M&M’s. Sweet! Check it out at www.walmart.com/sweetideas.

And hey, don't forget … I want an iPhone. Okay, okay. I am willing to settle for flowers, chocolates, candles, shoes, a new 40” or bigger LCD television or, in all seriousness, a thoughtful greeting.

Would love to hear your thoughts, ideas and suggestions on great e-cards and online greetings for Valentine's Day, and any other ways to be creative with sending greetings to loved ones far away. Thanks!

One week 'til Christmas and I'm getting really excited! And, with that excitement comes some exhaustion! So much to do and it seems overwhelming. I imagine you are all as busy as I am getting ready. Finishing up Christmas gift shopping. Writing out and sending the Christmas cards. Getting the house ready for guests. Getting ready to feed those guests. Prepping for travel. This week I saw for the first time one of the Walmart Christmas ads and it was adorable, and a good reminder of why all the prep and running around is worthwhile. Check it out …

Hunger isn’t something most people think about every day. Sure, it's mid-morning and I skipped breakfast so my tummy is growling up a storm, but that’s not what I mean. What I mean is this … I don’t think every day about how long it will be before I can afford my next meal. I don’t think every day about the millions of people living in this country who go to bed hungry every night. With Thanksgiving a week away, I'm not worried that my family won't have dinner on the table.

According to a recent USDA report, 36.2 million Americans, and that includes 12.4 million children, lived meal-to-meal in 2007, rarely knowing when the next meal will come. Unbelievable.

Today the Wal-Mart Foundation donated $2.5 million to Feeding America. This is money that will be used to provide the organization with new refrigerated trucks to transport food. And, on top of that, Walmart is donating food to Feeding America - enough by the end of 2009 to provide about 70 million meals! I know you might be thinking 'that’s how many billion cans of green beans and corn.' But think beyond the tin can – we’re talking fruit, steak, chicken wings … the good stuff!

A Walmart associate volunteers at a Feeding America food bank, stocking the fridge with lots of fruit, bagged salad and veggies!

Let's keep this goodwill going! Volunteerism and charitable donations are one of the best and most rewarding gifts you can give this Christmas, so help battle hunger and put Thanksgiving dinner on the table for families in need by volunteering or contributing to Feeding America’s “Fill a Bowl, Feed America campaign.” Trust me, you’ll feed good about it. I know I did. J