Day 201

Ben is the eternal optimist - which is why I am surprised by his openness to me (the eternal pessimist) to guest write one of his blog entries while he is away on this amazing trip . . . maybe it is his optimism that I will come up with some Awesomosity. My name is Katie, and I write a blog called Sarcastic and Single.

Today's Awesomosity comes from what is going on up in my living room as I type. A large, impromptu gathering of friends. Some dear friends, some new friends. The Awesomosity is friends. I once told a friend that friends are the family that you pick. And I think that is true. Most people feel very lucky if they have one or two close friends - and many (as evidence of our society) are aching for friends, companionship, community. So at risk of getting a little sappy - which is not my nature - I will stop it at that. Friends are the family you pick, and I have been fortunate to have some great family here in St. Louis, which is great for those days that I really miss being at home and around my family.

Task-O-The Day: call a friend and tell them that you are thankful for them. It has the potential to be totally awkward, but in the end it is worth it.

Wow, how totally out of character for me and for this blog. Oh well, I'm just a guest.

Day 53

Yeah, yeah, 53 days, thats amazing, woohoo, woot, and all that. What ya'll really need to do is click on some of those ads to your right, and make me some money.

So today's awesomosity comes from my family. Like the whole family. You see, my mother has done a bang-up job trying to get the whole family (that lives in town) together once a week for family dinner. Due to my ridiculous schedule, there are a lot of times that I cannot make it. Last night was not one of those times.

We get Big and Little Grandma (I've called them that my entire life. Big Grandma is about 5'10" and Little Grandma is maybe 5'0", so it fits. They even sign birthday cards like that, so no comments on thinking the Big and Little are derogatory to them or anything), along with my own momma and dad, and my brother, his wife and their three children usually. It was quite fun last night when my 2 nieces and nephew arrived, they had apparently been asking if I would be there and were quite happy to see that I was. Even though Ahren still thinks I look silly. Last time I saw him I was wearing coaches short and had a phenomenal stache. This time, no hair at all. Kids are brutally honest, you gotta love it. Here are the most recent pics of them:

Ahren (3 1/2) pretending the couch is a firetruck

Lydia (2 1/2) modeling her swimwear

Annie (10 mos.) being Annie

And what of the dinner itself, you ask? Delicious as always. When you get 4 mothers (3 of them grandmothers and 2 of them GREATgrandmothers) you know the food is kickin'. Last night we had one of my mother's great specialties, Caesar Salad. She makes the dressing from scratch and no other Caesar salad I have ever had even holds a candle to it (partially because you could kill a vampire with it there is so much garlic. YUMMY!). And of course there was plenty of dessert, including, but not limited to, oatmeal raisin cookies, rice krispie treats with Karo syrup and chocolate butterscotch stuff on top, ice cream and fruit. I love family dinner.

If your family isn't in town, or doesn't have a family dinner, let me know, I'll reserve a spot for you at ours.

Continuing with the comparisons, someone this morning at a business meeting suggested I look like Kojak, what do you think? Anyone else I might look like?

Kojak circa 1973

Me, circa 10:30 this morning

Thanks ya'll, see you tomorrow!

Day 24

I can't believe (I before E, except after C...) I've made it this far! Go me! Don't forget to vote in the poll!!

For today's awesomeness, I'm gonna pull one out that I've been saving for a little while. You see, my family is pretty tight. I mean, we all get along fairly well and hang out regularly. Our most regular get togethers are family dinners, which we try to do once a week. This is challenging a lot of the time since my mother works a lot of late hours, both grandmas try to make it, I'm busy as all get out, and my brother and his wife have three kids. Organizing a time that works for all of us is a bit difficult most of the time. So, when we do get us all together for a meal, time is of the essence and meal preparation is usually done in advance. Except for some small things, which can be done quickly. Which leads me to the awesomeness of the day; the way my mother cuts up a watermelon.

I know what you're thinking, "But Ben, you said something that is done quickly. Who ever heard of a quick way to cut up a watermelon?" I know. Watermelon cubing takes forever, unless you're my mother (who learned this trick from a co-worker, Laura Calys). My momma took a fair sized watermelon from oval to cubes in under 4 minutes. I'm serious. So, I thought I would share with you how it was done, because it's awesome!

First, you cut the watermelon in half, right down the middle. Then you cut the halves in half (or quarter the watemelon for those keeping track). Once you have four quarters, take one and slice the knive between the goodness and the rind from both sides. Then you make 3-4 slices horizontal on each side. Then you cut straight down from the top and: voila! cubed watermelon!

For those that have no clue what I just said, here are some pictures, taken from here:

I know! It's amazing! Awesome even! And it takes like no time at all!

So, you want some watermelon, but you don't want cubes, right? Well, here is a link to Wikihow that shows another way to cut a watermelon. At the bottom of the page, there are several more links on how to do more fun stuff with watermelon, like a watermelon basket, or cutting a watermelon to look like a swan and stuff like that.

If you are just interested in everything watermelon (who isn't, really?) visit www.watermelon.org. Yes, watermelons have a website. What a crazy world we live in!

I hoep you enjoyed the post, even if it is slightly recycled material. Let me know what you think with a comment. By the way, I'm gonna put some tags into this post to see if more people come to visit me. (I've been getting 15-40 visitors a day for a while now, in case you were interested.)

Here's my picture of the day, taken with my wonderful father in his basement; come back tomorrow and see what's awesome! (I already have an idea what it's going to be, and it really is awesome!)