7 Quick Takes

I have read several blogs that do "7 Quick Takes" once per week as a blog post.  I think I will give it a try.  Most likely these will be a series of random thoughts/quotes/ideas from the week.

1.  Can you believe the American Idol Results show last night?  I am a huge Casey fan.  I love his style and his voice.  When he was "saved" by the judges last night, I literally had tears running down my face, rewound the DVR, and watched the ending again.  Guess who is going to make sure to call in and vote next week?  Me!

2.  Davis has his first Nadadores swim meet this weekend.  I think he is both excited and nervous at the same time.  I just hope he does not get disqualified in any of his events.  My classic first born, people pleasing, overachiever would be devastated.

3.  Speaking of this weekend, it is supposed to rain.  All. weekend. long.  Normally I love the rain, but this weekend it is going to be tough for two reasons.  First, Noah's baseball game will be cancelled and he will be a disappointed little boy.  Second, the thought of sitting outside in the rain at the swim meet for hours on end, with all four kiddos makes me want to run away to some tropical island somewhere.

4.  Starbucks Via packets stink.  Just saying. 

5. Noah to Eliza this week, "I know it sounds gross as a kid, but some day, when you are a grown up, you will like a boy and want to get married."

6.  I have the itch to go shopping.  Wonder if I will be able to squeeze that in at all this weekend?  Actually, do be completely honest, I almost always have the itch to go shopping.

7.  That's it for me today.  Have a great weekend!

Wicked

I love musicals.  Always have, always will.  My favorite movie of all time is The Sound of Music.  I could seriously watch that movie over and over again without stopping and never get tired of it.

On Friday, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go to Wicked with her over the weekend.  Ummm . . . do birds fly?  Of course I wanted to go!  And, to top it off, she had tickets for some of the best seats in the house.  5th row, center!

I was in heaven.  The music was fabulous.  I loved the fact that during one of the numbers, I saw the actor who played Elphaba (The Wicked Witch for those who have not seen it) with tears in her eyes.  Amazing.  I plan to download the entire Wicked soundtrack to my ipod asap!

As my friend pointed out, one of the best things about Wicked is that it is a story of friendship.  Most musicals revolve around a romantic interest, and Wicked does have a secondary storyline concerning the love between Elphaba and Fiyero, but primarily it is about the the friendship between Glenda and Elphaba.  I love that at the end of the evening, I truly felt that the "Wicked Witch" was misunderstood, and that she truly was not an evil character of any sort.

If you are in Orange County, I believe Wicked is playing until April 3rd.  Go see it! 

The Agony of the Double Play.

My number two child is all about sports.  He loves any type of sports.  If it involves a ball, a stick, or any sort of competition, he will be right there in the thick of it.

His current sport (and probably his number one love) is baseball.  This kid loves baseball and is always asking that someone either play catch or pitch balls to him.  He would literally do it all.day.long if he could.

Baseball season started a few weeks ago.  To date we have had four games.  Noah is one of the youngest on his team, but skills-wise, he is probably in the top half of the pack.  However, I believe that Noah is probably the most determined kid on the team.  Every at-bat is faced with the utmost concentration, and on most occasions he is able to connect with the machine-pitched fast ball and succeeds in getting on base.  Last week, Noah hit a single and was sitting on first base.  The next batter also made connection with the ball, and sent a pop fly straight toward second base.

Now this is Single A baseball.  Seven and eight year olds.  Nine times out of ten, the kids do not catch pop flys.  The odds were in Noah’s favor.  However, the second baseman caught the ball, and Noah become the second out in a double play because he had made the mistake of leaving first base.

Oh, I felt it!  I felt his pain all the way from the bleachers.  You know the pit you feel in your stomach when something bad happens?  That is how my stomach felt as I watched him jog off the field.  He kept a brave face until he reached the very back corner of the dugout.  As I watched his little chin quivering, and grabbed his fingers through the chain linked fence, I realized that there would be many more moments like this.  Moments when I wished with all my heart that I could ease the pain. 

And then, after a few minutes, Noah collected himself and said, “Well, I had to run, because if he would have dropped it, I had to get to second base before he did.” 

And with that, my Noah was back in business.

And so it begins.

Here it is.  A blog.  What am I thinking?

I love reading blogs.  I read all kinds.  Home decor blogs.  Mommy blogs.  Inspirational blogs.  Crafty blogs.  Cooking blogs.  Photography Blogs.  But here is the rub.  I am not crafty, and probably never, ever, ever will be.  My house is not decorated beautifully, although I really wish that it was.  My cooking skills are questionable at best.  I would love to become a skilled photographer, but my camera is stuck on automatic mode.  I guess I could make this a "mommy blog", but I feel like I might want it to be even more than this.  So, what in the world would I blog about, and why would I even bother?

I am not sure.  However, I feel drawn to start one.  Even if I am the only person in the entire world who ever reads it (well, I might tell my Mom about it - - she would probably be a loyal follower).  The funny thing is that I do not even think I am a skilled writer.  Sure, I can write a scathing legal brief with the best of them, but that is an entirely different style of writing.  The legal world requires facts and analysis, with the ever present edge of persuasion.  Blog writing seems to be an entirely different animal.  Requiring creativity, and the use of the right side of the brain.  I wonder if the right side of my brain even works.  Creativity is not my strong suit. 

So, why I am even attempting this?  My life is hectic.  I am a full time attorney and I have four little ones.  It is crazy to even consider adding one more thing to my already over-booked schedule.  However, lately I have been looking for some sort of outlet.  Perhaps this blog will satisfy this need.  Or, perhaps it will enable me to do a better job of keeping track of the little stories and funny details of our families’ lives that I always say I will never forget, but in time, I probably will.  

Anyone want to take any bets on how long I will last?