Entry bubble You. Me. Thanksgiving.

By: Nancy | November 27, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

Here we are again for the second year in a row:  You. Me. Turkey Day. If you won't ask me what I'm doing blogging all by myself on Thanksgiving, I won't ask you why you're reading a blog today instead of watching to see which balloon pops first in the Macy's Parade. Or eating a hunk of pie. Or, ideally, doing both at the same time.

Jake's already given you lots of great Thanksgiving tips from USA.gov and around the government web to help you make sure that—

Regardless of how you're celebrating today, you'll know the story of what happened that first Thanksgiving...


You'll practice safe food handling in preparing your turkey...


You'll know what to do with all those leftovers...


Yep, we've covered it all now, except for one thing—what we're thankful for here at Gov Gab headquarters:

You.

Thank you for stopping by, for reading, commenting, emailing us, and for telling your friends and your coworkers about Gov Gab.p

When we're counting our blessings today, we're thinking of you.

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Entry bubble Run Off Your Thanksgiving Turkey!

By: Jake | November 24, 2008 | Category: Health

JoggerTurkey Day is this week and Nancy will be here to assist you with all your Thanksgiving needs (you need to provide your own dinner, of course). If you're like some of my friends, you're already wondering how you are going to work that dinner off your body. Might I suggest going for a jog?

It may seem like an odd suggestion coming from someone who's not a runner, but I've noticed recently that running is a good way to work off any meal - big or small. My girlfriend always wanted to run a marathon and she ran the Richmond Marathon last week. After she signed up for it in August she averaged 25 miles of running per week, along with exercises to strengthen her core. She did this in addition to her demanding job as a fifth grade teacher (seriously - not an easy job). I played the role of Mickey Goldmill by cooking, cleaning, and getting a bike to help her train on some of her longer distance runs.

She had a diet she followed during her training, but she was able to eat a lot more than usual. You may not want to train for a marathon but, at the very least, running provides a way to work off those (sometimes) excessive holiday meals. There is plenty of government information on exercise, but there isn't a lot regarding running. I did find information about running by searching Healthfinder.gov from the American Podiatric Medical Association and American Academy of Podiatric Sports. As you might imagine, running causes a lot of stress on your feet and it is important you select the right shoes. In addition to taking a look at those links, you should check with your doctor about how you should approach running to make it a permanent hobby so you can always say yes to that second helping of turkey.

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Entry bubble Thanksgiving, Gov Gab Style

By: Nancy | November 22, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

turkey looking at calendarIt's ok.

I know you're not reading a government blog today. You're at the table with your family, negotiating with your 10-year-old nephew for the second drumstick (go on, let the kid have it). Or you're with your gang, having a Friends kind of Thanksgiving. Or you're going it solo this year, kicking back at home, watching the parades and football games and enjoying your own version of Thanksgiving dinner. A friend of mine is making herself some glazed Spam today. See, that's good eatin' if you asked me.

But you didn't. Because you're not here.

If you were though, I'd be telling you about USA.gov's Thanksgiving page. Its facts, tips and trivia could actually save you during dinner discussion today, distracting your mom from asking you when you were going to give her a grandchild because she's "tired of waiting and you're not getting any younger, you know."

You could have been your family's Top Chef, learning how to cook turkey safely, the old fashioned way in the oven or by using alternate methods. I'm kind of partial to my cousin Tim's "boiler 'im up in oil" deep fryer technique.

The Thanksgiving page could have made you the know-it-all of the family, with US Census Bureau Thanksgiving stats like:

  • 1.6 billion pounds of sweet potatoes are produced each year in the US. No word on how many millions of pounds of marshmallows it takes to top all the resulting sweet potato casseroles.
  • There are nine "Turkey Townships" in the US, three of them in Kansas alone. Don't know what's up with that.
  • 272 million turkeys are raised in the US each year, only one of which gets a pardon from the President and a free trip to Disney World.  Something tells me tofurkeys don't get that same honor. 

Or you could have been the family historian, holding up dessert by first making everyone listen to your recitation of America's Thanksgiving beginnings, including George Washington's proclamation that established the holiday.

But see, you can't do any of those things because you're not here learning about them with your lonely Thursday blogger. But I'll be ok. Really. You just go right ahead and have yourself a Happy Thanksgiving. And eat some of that cranberry jelly stuff for me.  And a roll.  Two rolls.  Oh, and some of that pie...

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