Just like HGTV

Well, maybe not quite that good or exciting, but the Fife family did attempt a do-it-yourself project last week. It was our first total project, and we feel pretty good about it. The kids' bathroom upstairs needed a new shower curtain, so that prompted me to change up the entire bathroom. I picked out a lovely Martha Stewart fern print shower curtain from Macy's with beautiful aqua and ivory colors. Paint came next - Portland blue (a teal blue color) on the bottom half of the walls and Phantom (antique ivory) on the top half seperated by a white chair rail moulding. Since we would be doing painted it made sense to change out all the hardware so we went with Venetian bronze towel ring, double towel rack, glass shelf, light fixture, oval mirror, switchplate cover, and faucet. We managed to get this all done in one week and before Easter, which is surely a record for us. I wonder what we'll tackle next (and if it'll only take another 10 years before we do it, LOL).

The kids' bathroom before:


and After:

Easter

Wow, I've been incredibly neglectful of my blog this month. Darn life just gets in the way sometimes... Easter was truly lovely this year. We went to church and then had the entire family over to our house for a very nice dinner. Afterwards the kids did some Easter egg hunting in the backyard. It was a bit breezy but at least it didn't rain this year. Then we trundled off to Jennifer and Oriana's house for more Easter egg hunting. Usually I stress out about big holiday dinners for several days prior to the event, but this one wasn't too bad. I got the table all set the night before and a lot of the prepwork done the day before. The menu included ham with pineapple/raisin sauce, mashed potatoes, corn, deviled eggs, sugar cookies, asparagus, pistachio salad, frogs eye salad, sesame braid bread, bunny cake, jello eggs, a fruit tray, and lemon meringue pie. There were lots of leftovers, LOL.

Who Needs Kids When You Have a Husband?

I guess as a mom I kind of expect my kids to make messes and for me to be eternally cleaning up after them, but not so much after my husband. I was upstairs getting ready to take Hero to ballet last night and I heard a huge crash. Since it wasn't followed by the sound of kids stampeding to their rooms to hide out and avoid getting in trouble, I figured it must have been James' fault. And sure enough, this is what I walked in on-
An entire Costco-size bucket of JellyBellies all over the kitchen floor. To James' credit, he did clean it up, although he bribed the kids with 5 jelly beans a piece if they helped. Love you, Darling. ;-P

The Big 5-0!

Happy Birthday Dad and Grandpa. (Sorry your cards are late, if it wasn't your birthday, I'd blame the Post Office, LOL). We love you and wish we could be there so we could have cake. :-)

Happy Birthday to Colin too - he's 9 months old today, wow!

Politics

Hmm, maybe the Democratic Party has fallen prey to one of Ms. Clinton's "vast right-wing conspiracies". That's the only way I can figure out that she's still in the running for the nomination. Now, I'm no Clinton-hater - I don't think that she's a socialist or evil, but one thing is crystal-clear: she unites the conservative base like no other. Perhaps the Democratic Party is so out-of-touch outside of the Beltway that they don't see what I see. Being in a staunchly Republican state that has seen a renewed interest in the nomination process of the Democratic Party, I truly believe that the result of a Hillary Clinton presidential nomination will be the re-marginalization of the Democratic Party in "red" states. To be fair, I'm an Obama supporter, but this is about more than who I personally want to see as the nominee. I think that a Clinton-McCain election will further the corrosive red state/blue state divide plaguing America. I know this is a bit out of character for my blog, but there's more to the life, even for a mom to four, than changing diapers, chaffeuring, wiping noses, and doing dishes, LOL.