Welcome to Therapy. My name is "Nutbar" and I will be your Guide.

This is the latest craze sweeping the Yoga industry. I don't know whether to laugh or buy myself a gun.

Lunar Eclipse

Today Ben and I got up at 5:15 to look at the lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses are very special to us because we had our first kiss while watching a lunar eclipse and surprisingly we got married on a day that had a lunar eclipse. Here's what it looks like... beautiful.

This is not a political post ... honest.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Today Ben and I went to the batting cages. Ben wanted to try this in his pursuit of a hobby and also because in Britain they don't have this stuff.

In this first picture you can see the ball flying toward Ben. The fast pitch machine was deadly!
















Here's the biggest dork in the universe. :)





















Handsome and smart.












The lovely bubble heads.

Amphibian Grins

Morris Snake

This is a snake that was on a tree at my mom's house. The neat thing is that you can see he had a little breakfast not too long ago! We think it's a chicken snake. Thankfully my parents don't have chickens anymore!

Human Tetris Game

More crazy Japanese gameshow mayhem - you'll have to see this to believe it. I'm sure they'd have to increase the size of those holes by about 200% if this gameshow was to ever make it in the US!

Tokyo Wave Pool Insanity

Can you spell "W-e-d-g-i-e"?

Cooking in August

For those of you that like Indian food or mildly spicy foods... this is a recipe for you. I got this out of a book from the library called "Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking- A Mennonite Community Cookbook". Since when do Mennonite people cook Indian food? I don't know. It was fantastic! Sorry... no pictures taken.

Rice and Curry

1 pound hamburger (I used two)
2 T fat (I used margarine)
2 large onions, diced
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
2 C strained tomatoes (I used canned died tomatoes with green chilies)
4 medium-sized potatoes, diced
1 1/2 C rice, uncooked
6 cups water (1 1/2 C for meat mixture, 4 1/2 for rice)
2 tsp salt

Brown hamburger and onions in the fat. You might want to drain off a bit of the grease if it is quite a bit. I did not drain it because I used very lean beef. Add tomatoes, diced potatoes, curry and salt. Add 1 1/2 C boiling water and cook slowly until potatoes are soft. Cook rice in salt water and drain. Serve curry mixture with the rice. This is good also with chicken instead of beef. Serves 6-8.

Julia Sweeney

You may remember this lady on Saturday Night Live. I thought this video was funny.

Nightclub for Bill Gates fans

This is in Sarajevo.

Watermelons

Someone has way too much time on their hands.

The Real Group- fantastic!

Love them!

Mormon Spooky Video

Ok... so Friday two Mormon men came to the house. I let them in because it was so hot outside and offered them some water. What followed was a big long discussion about why we can not accept the claims of Joseph Smith. Tonight I was watching youtube videos about Mormons and this one made Ben and I raise an eyebrow. The music in the background truly sets an atmosphere.

Missouri and family

The more I live in Missouri, the more I realize that it is a big state!

For all you scholars out there, here are some facts about Missouri that you might not know. (I certainly didn't)

The Missouri State Song is called "Missouri Waltz" and here is an excerpt from the lyrics:

Hush-a-bye, ma baby, slumber time is comin' soon;
Rest yo' head upon my breast, while mommy hums a tune;
The sandman is callin', where shadows are fallin',
While the soft breezes sigh as in days long gone by.

Way down in Missouri where I heard this melody,
When I was a little child on my mommy's knee;
The old folks were hummin', their banjos were strummin'
So sweet and low.

and yes, there is a reason that you don't know the song.

The Missouri state bird- bluebird (by the way, it's also NY's state

bird as well)

The Missouri state flower is the Hawthorn.









The Missouri state tree is the flowering dogwood.

This weekend we went up to St. Joseph, MO for a surprise birthday party. This is Ben with his Grandpa looking like they are having a good time.












We went to church with Ben's Aunt and Uncle, and then we drove through the town of Gower. I thought Gower's town hall deserved a picture. It's the smallest town hall I think I've ever seen. Of course, today I saw a whole family of turkeys on the side of the road and I didn't have the dexterity to take a picture that fast!

My Niece and Nephew

These two are my sister's kids. I think everyone needs to see how cute my niece and nephew are!
















Chloe Anna's beautiful smile.
























Clay's beautiful smile. Look at those teeth!

It Hatched

The last time I was out at Ben's grandparent's place Grandpa brought a cocoon inside the house. You see, Grandma is into cocoons of butterflies and moths (not literally people). She enjoys identifying them and also just watching them. We decided this cocoon was a moth and Grandpa placed the cocoon in a potted plant indoors.


Tonight we went over to visit with them and Grandma and I were having a great conversation when I heard a really loud fluttering noise. I asked her if she heard it and she said, "oh, it's just a bug outside." Just about that time we see this huge thing come flying out and bumping into the walls. I squeal and run down the hall. This next move was really bright on my part... I turned on the bathroom light. So guess where the moth flew? Right toward me! It looked like a bat coming toward me. Terrifying!


This is the end result... the cocoon that the moth came out of, and the moth that came out. Eventually I will put a picture of it with its wings expanded so you can see how pretty and how BIG this thing was. In the meantime, we're waiting for it to die sealed inside one of Grandma's tupperware bowls. (sorry for all the sensitive out there)

Audition and Parkville Day Trip

Well... today I had an audition for the Kansas City Chorale, a professional choir in the area. It has been a long time since I had an audition and since I only found out yesterday that my audition was today, I was nervous. I think it went well... and we'll see what happens. I met the conductor shown in the picture in the front. He was very funny and kind. His name is Charles Bruffy.





After my audition we went to explore Parkville, Missouri. It's just north of Kansas City. This dude is Colonel George S. Park, founder of Park college. This town was originally called English Landing, but was renamed Parkville later on. Does he look happy to you?
















This is part of Park College. Can you imagine putting a roof on this building?
This is a tiny picture of what downtown Parkville looks like. There are lots of antique stores and neat restaurants. We enjoyed walking around! It also has a walking path that goes along the Missouri river, but we didn't have enough time to do it all in one day. Plus... it was hot. Anyway... we had a great day.

When you're very bored .... in an Asian prison somewhere

What else is there to do but make your own Thriller video? This made me laugh out loud!

Obama for fun

I thought this was funny. If you watch it more than once it is very catchy.