Like a lot of people, I just sleep better with some white noise in the background. My wife actually uses our noisy air cleaner for that purpose. Here's a great tip if you're traveling and don't want to carry a bulky white noise machine with you — use the radio in your hotel room. Just turn the radio to a frequency between channels to get your white noise.

A couple of weeks ago I suggested using a mixture of mustard and syrup as a glaze for fish and chicken. My buddy Sandra pointed out to me that you can make a glaze with ketchup and syrup for meatloaf and meatballs. After cooking the meat, she heats the glaze up in the microwave and pours it over the meat. She's been doing it for years and people love it.

Speaking of food, I love cooking sausages on the grill — especially this time of year. I've only got one beef with sausages. (Sorry for the bad pun). It's the amount of calories and grams of fat. When I was younger and had great metabolism I didn't care. I also didn't worry about my cholesterol back then, either. Well, I've got a great tip for you — try chicken sausages. Most brands have about 120 calories and 5 grams of fat per link. (This compares to a regular sausage that has 270 calories and 22 grams of fat). You can serve them in hot dog buns or even slice them up and serve with pasta. Thanks to Donna Hall for putting me on to these.

Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away. The key to making a great Thanksgiving meal (and not getting stressed out) is to plan ahead. The first item on your plan should be to clean out your refrigerator and freezer. By doing this now, you'll be sure to have plenty of room for the turkey and all of the leftovers. Also, look for a special turkey day primer and timeline coming in this Wednesday's food section in The Times.

Tim Thompson lives in Gainesville. E-mail Tim your ideas for tips, tools or tricks.