The Planets are aligning

I noticed on weather.com yesterday evening that we would be able to see Jupiter and Venus near the moon.  Well, it was just about dusk, so I went outside and there they were!  It was so amazing to be able to see them with the naked eye.  I told Jim and Benjamin and they came out too.  Benjamin grabbed his telescope, but it's a cheap one and we weren't able to see anything clearly through it.  However, it was still neat to be able to see planets in the sky at dusk.  This morning when I went out to feed the cats, I believe I saw Mercury in the sky.  I've always loved watching the sky for planets, comets, and eclipses.  In the next few weeks, we'll be able to see Venus, Jupiter and Mercury just after sunset!  Here's a neat site on the internet that tells you more if you are interested: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance.

I tried to take some pictures last night, but they were all blurry and too far away to really see much. Weather.com has some good pictures, though, if you are interested in seeing some. 

Enjoy the night sky if you can!

A growing boy eats a lot of food

Oh my goodness....B is only 10, but this weekend he has put away so much food that I am very concerned about the next 10 years.  On Friday, he said that his dad wasn't putting enough food in his lunch.  That surprised me until we sat down to dinner and I watched this boy eat a GIANT cheeseburger wrap!  It was probably 3/4 of a pound of meat and he at it all, plus french fries and then had an ice cream cone for dessert! 

Saturday morning, Jim fixed him an egg and cheese burrito...a BIG one.  He ate the whole thing, of course.  For lunch, he had PBJ, chips and grapes.  That's a little more like it...or so I thought.  We had pizza for dinner (hey, it's the weekend, we eat kinda junky on the weekends as you can see) and later I made popcorn.  The child ate a huge amount of popcorn. This morning, he has had 3 pieces of French Toast and a big bowl of cereal.  I guess I need to go back to the grocery store today. 

A horrible event

Earlier this week, a young woman was killed while she was driving to work around 4am on I-65.  Another young woman was going the wrong way on the interstate and the two vehicles collided.  I saw the aftermath on my drive into work that morning.  The northbound side of the interstate was still shut down as I drove to work and they were still investigating the crash scene.  The two vehicles were destroyed beyond recognition.  It was not an easy scene to pass, knowing what had happened. 

Yesterday, I asked Benjamin if he had heard about that accident and he said that they had talked about it at school.  We discussed it a bit and I explained that the girl driving the wrong way on the interstate had admitted to drinking before driving.  Benjamin told me that he had seen an interview and this girl allegedly said she thought she was in a taxi and didn't realize she was driving.  I have not heard that and I'm not trying to spread rumors or say bad things.  What I did was take this opportunity to tell Benjamin (again) that if he EVER has been drinking or is with someone who is drinking he is NOT to get into that car or drive anywhere.  He is to call me at any time of the day or night.  I told him this before and I am hoping to drill it into his brain.  I know he is only 10, but kids these days (yeah, I said it) know so much more that I did when I was young.  I think it is important to keep talking about this stuff and hopefully as our kids progress through their tween and teen years, we can still talk sometimes about important topics and let our kids know they can trust us and be honest with us. 

I'm not sure why this accident is weighing on my mind.  Maybe because I saw the vehicles where a young woman died and drive through that crash area on my way home daily.  Maybe because I know that it could have been me in either of those cars at those ages.  We've all done stupid things in our lives, but living with the knowledge that someone died because I hit them when I should not have been driving is not something I wish on anyone. 

I just don't know what to say!

My mother emailed me this morning asking if I had stopped blogging.  Well, I guess since my last post was a couple of months ago, it would seem that way.  Actually, I really feel like I nothing to say...okay, stop laughing... :)

So the past few months have been quiet, more or less.  I am just doing daily things like working, trying to get my son to take responsibility for his homework and keep his grades up, eating, sleeping, facebooking, and commenting on the strange winter we've been having.  Oh, yes, I supposed I could write about the weather - that is SOOOO interesting....HEHE!  However, it has been a mild winter...probably the most mild winter I can remember.  We had buttercups start coming up in late January and bloomed just before Valentine's day.  

We've only had a couple inches of snow that melted within 24 - 36 hours after it fell.  The days leading up to and following any winter precipitation have been warm - at least 50*F.  In fact, we have hardly had the heat on in our house this winter - we've been using the fireplace to heat our house and it's been very comfortable, if not HOT some days, in the house. 

We've also been sick this winter.  I think without a hard freeze this year, the allergens haven't been removed from the outside air.  In fact, B has been sick for about a month. After 2 weeks of coughing with very little improvement with OTC remedies, we took him into the Dr. who said he was starting to wheeze.  After a week of steriods and an inhaler, he was getting better, but not well.  So back to the Dr. who said his lungs were clear (YEAH!), but the congestion needed to be treated and she put him on Singular and Claratin for a couple of weeks.  I've also had a bit of congestion, but Jim is really sick right now.  We both started getting sick in Las Vegas (oh, yeah, we took a little vacation to Vegas a couple weeks ago) and it's gotten worse for Jim.  I'm better, but he cannot seem to kick this crap.  What is it with these guys? ;) Just kidding.  I don't like it when either of them are sick and I cannot do anything for them.   *sigh*

So now I have written another little entry in my blog.  Maybe it will jump start my creativity and I will start writing more often.  Thanks, Mom, for the nudge.  :)