Announcing The Newest Edition to our Family

Sadie Lalli

Born on May 21, 2009

3 lbs 2 oz

5 inches long

lots of cute white, black and reddish hair

Proud parents Scott and Jen Lalli

Very excited sister Maddie,

who never in her wildest dreams

could have imagined this day would come

I really want one of these

I did get a lovely Tiffany blue beach cruiser for my birthday recently but then I saw these! Don't you love them!

They are having an awesome contest right now for everyone who links them on their blog so I thought I'd have a go at it.

There's no turning back now

It's official!  I am currently typing this post on my brand new imac!  

I must admit that this is going to take some getting used to.  Little things that I used to take for granted like cut, copy and paste have taken hours for me to figure out today.  That is nothing though compared to the 3 1/2 hours on the phone with some incompetent lady in India trying to get my Internet hooked up.  Here is a sample of that conversation:

Me: I need to get the access code to activate my wireless Internet service on my new imac.

Lady in India (speaking very s-l-o-w-l-y with very thick and hardly understandable accent):  Let me see if I understand you; your service is slow and you need a filter on your phone line.

Me: No, I bought a new computer and it is asking me for my Internet company's access code.

Lady in India:  Let me see if I understand you;  you need a new Ethernet cable for your computer.

It went on like that for over an hour.  I was being (uncharacteristically) extremely patient and really trying to remain calm, you could even say that I was being nice.  She, on the other hand, was not very nice!  Out of the blue, during one of her (I need to look in this big book of scripts I have and see what other ridiculous thing I can come up with that is your problem) on hold moments I suddenly get disconnected.  Oh great, I am thinking, luckily she asked me for my phone number 3 times before we even started, in case we got disconnected.  Did she call me back?  NO!!!!  

So the next day I decide to try again.  I promise that I am not exaggerating when I say, the exact same thing happened again!  Even down to the hanging up part!

Finally, out of desperation, I tried one last time.  This time I wasn't so nice to "Lee" who answered my call.  I must give him credit though, he very patiently and kindly calmed me down and he actually new exactly what I needed, gave me the code and voila, I am able to post this rant right now.  

Yes, I am Flipping Out

Once again, season finales are upon us leaving those of us who have little or no life of their own to wonder "what now?".
I cannot express in words (though I will try) the sadness I feel that my favorite show of all time is coming to an abrupt season's end. If you have never had the ultimate viewing pleasure of watching "Flipping Out" TiVo it now and thank me later!
"Flipping Out" is a reality show that chronicles the life of Jeff Lewis, an OCD house flipper who makes millions buying, renovating, and selling houses in the ritzy neighborhoods of California. There is so much I love about this show it is hard to narrow it down but here are two main reasons.
#1. Jeff and his business partner Ryan have the best taste in design that I have ever seen. I must admit, I read all of the design magazines, studied design in college, and would like to think that I have pretty good taste and an eye for design. The things that these guys do just blow me away! Every week I tell Scott, while watching this show (yes, he is obsessed too) that I want to redo our house and make it look just like one on the show! I love their style more than words can express, and if I could find a flaw in the show it is that I want to see more, more, MORE, of the before and after projects!
#2. Jeff and his OCD are hilarious! He is self-absorbed, rude, and unreasonable, but you just want to love him anyway. I know that a lot of people can stand his narcissism, but I love it!! I hope that doesn't say something about me...
Okay, I am going to add a third reason, like I said, it is too hard to narrow it down.
Bonus reason #3. My husband appreciates this show as much as I do. If we are having a bad day on Tuesdays or are stressed out (which seems to happen a lot, what is up with Tuesdays?) It never fails, one of us will lovingly say to the other (in our most seductive voice) "Flipping Out is on tonight". Suddenly your load seems to lighten, you can envision the light at the end of the Tuesday tunnel. Everything is going to be alright because tonight, snuggled close, (okay, maybe not too close, he is on the chair and I get the whole sectional, I do need my space) you will forget all your worries, because compared with the stress Jeff faces, your life is a cake walk. Maybe not so fabulously accessorized, but a cake walk none the less!

SPARKY

We are finally getting close to having the basement completely finished!

I wish I would have taken more "before" pics along the way. This is a pic of Scott doing the only thing that he really could do to help (anyone who knows Scott will understand that he is not exactly handy).

I have always wanted to have a metal room (a girl has to dream). So I decided to do metal panels in the playroom. It is kind of like library paneling but with metal. I wanted Maddie to be able to hang her artwork, posters, funky magnets, pictures, etc. all over the walls.

It turned out better than I could have hoped. My brother was able to get the metal sheets for me (believe me giant metal sheets aren't easy to come by) and my dad hung them. Scott, (who wanted to help very badly) was allowed to use a power tool (under strict supervision) to cut out where the outlets and light switch go. I was relieved (and slightly impressed) at how well he handled it. He did however, get a little carried away with the sparks he created, thus his new nickname, SPARKY!

For some reason when I blog I find it necessary to use a lot of parenthesis (watch for some finished basement pics in a post to follow)!

Way To Represent

Maybe I wasn't meant for blogging.

Oh, I don't know, two posts in the last four months.

I guess it just takes something like what happened today to get my fingers itching to type.



Today during our student council meeting (I am the student council advisor and my daughter Maddie is a student council member, nothing to do with me, she won fair and square! I promise!) we were talking about healthy living posters that we are going to be making for the 5K run we are putting on. I know, the fact that I am in charge of a 5K run is funny enough to be the topic of this and many other posts but believe me, it gets even better.

One of the boys is doing a poster on sports. He is printing out different pictures of sports to glue onto his poster and one of the girls recommends that he print out a picture of a softball game. "I am not using a picture of softball! Softball is for girls!" He laughs.

To which Maddie defensively replies, "No it isn't! My dad plays softball!"

I don't think he was impressed.