The Seven Year Itch by Rubyellen Bratcher

Scratchy, itchy, I’m starting to twitch,
I think my dear Ben, we’ve hit the seven year itch.

Boring, tiring, monotony filled,
I do all your laundry, it’s time to send you a bill.

Long, endless, the days blend together,
I want to float away like a teeny white feather.

Same ‘ole, same ‘ole, again and again,
I feel ruffled and bothered just like old mother hen.

Crazy, messy, a lot of insane.
I try to keep my head above water is the name of this game.

Yelling, fighting, your offspring they do,
I play referee but they gang on me two by two.

But who am I kidding, I love this neurotic life,
I am in for the long haul, it’s fun to be your wife.

Boring, tiring, monotony filled,
I know what to expect and that gives me a thrill.

Long, endless, the days blend together,
I would slow it all down from now until forever.

Same ‘ole, same ‘ole, again and again,
I love waking up to you handsome Ben.

Crazy, messy, a lot of insane.
I love you so dearly, my love can’t be tamed.

Yelling, fighting, your offspring they do,
I love your minis, Glow, Soul, Brave and True.

Scratchy, itchy, I’m starting to twitch.
I only want you to scratch this seven year itch.

We celebrated 7 years of being married this past Monday. It was a good anniversary. It was the most low key one yet. We had originally planned to send the girls off to my parents’ for the weekend, but we ended up keeping them all weekend long. All I wanted to do was clean and keep cleaning the house, and that is exactly what we did! It seems like a lame way to spend an anniversary, but I was quite happy cleaning all day long. All I really wanted to do anyways was be with Ben and relax, and though it wasn’t relaxing, I can’t really relax in a messy house anyways.

Monday morning, we did our little gift exchange and then we kept on cleaning. For dinner, we put the kids to bed early, then picked up sushi from our favorite place, and had a sweet little date in our bedroom with dinner and a movie. Simple and sweet. We may try to go out on Saturday just the two of us to celebrate, but with this cleaning kick we both are on, I wouldn’t be surprised if we forfeit that and stay home and keep cleaning. We’re lame, aren’t we?! If we are, at least we both don’t mind being lame together.

I had no anniversary present request and neither did he. We both ended up surprising each other with something handmade. I did a spin on the “seven year itch” and made a Shel Silverstein inspired poem for him accompanied with a drawing and cover page I did in ink and then digitalized. He loved it, but was feeling bad after reading the poem because he said he needs to give me more breaks. I thought that was pretty funny because I didn’t mean to make him feel bad, but was just trying to do mimic the sarcasm that Shel Silverstein emits in his poems. At the same time, I think the poem does emphasize what married life with kids is really like. It’s not always magical and there is a lot of work, but in the end, I love this life that I have been given a chance to live, frustrating moments and all!

Ben’s present has a bit of a backstory with it…  when he asked me to be his girlfriend he made me this book entitled 1,000 Things I Absolutely and Positively Love About You. When we were dating, he would randomly leave me notes of what he loved about me to put in the book and I think he got to number 11 and then life happened and the notes stopped. On occasion, I would joke with him that he still only loves 11 things about me. Well, he gave that book idea a makeover and found a vintage journal online that he wanted to use for it, contacted this lady to calligraphy the title, and started again with #1: How patient you are with me. Actually this project took him a year, apparently it was supposed to be last year’s anniversary present, but it took him a year to find the perfect journal to use and this 1911 french registrar book is the perfect thing! I am in love with the book, but so much more with the gift giver.

Ben and I laugh about how we spent our anniversary just cleaning, but really, for me, it was perfect.

Welcome. Cakies has a new home! Well, a web home to be clear. We are currently going through our home home and streamlining and changing, so it was time to do that to my blog too. Change was needed. I think it was a mighty good one in fact. The person responsible for this design is Joy Laforme via Sage and Berries (my friend Alice did the cakies logotype) and I think she did a splendidly good job with everything! Especially  for putting up with the wanna-be graphic designer in me. I tell you, I am neurotic. And just to be sure I was using that word correctly, I just googled it, and yep, that’s me. With all my crazy requests, Joy got everything exactly right. She’s good people (look at her  blog and shop, and aren’t these iphone cases pretty?!!).

This new layout is so simple and so clear. You want some categories? Well, it is over there on your right! If you want to pin something… then just scroll over the image and a “pin it” button will come up. Have some questions for me? I may just answer some of them here.  Need to facebook or tweet or share something? Well, see that little minty dot at the bottom of the post, scroll over it, and you can share! I love the simplicity and the functionality of it all. Oh and if that wasn’t enough, you can even follow the Cakies facebook page here and the other little pretty social icons on the right can lead you to other social media places you will find me.

You may have noticed that I have also partnered with Federated Media and will on occasion work with brands in this space. I did the Levi’s thing, which was fun, and I am sure strange for you to hear my voice (it’s strange for me too) and my most recent one with Dreyer’s here. Just like that most recent one, the content is still me and was still cohesive with this space and my life. I love blogging and am grateful for the opportunities that have come as a result of it. Yes, I am a mom, who blogs, and sometimes it’s about my kids, sometimes it’s about food, sometimes it’s about how to make something, it’s pretty much random little slices of my life. Remember though, these bits are just snapshots and never the whole.

I am not going to lie, I think the blog world is a very deceiving place. It is dangerously deceiving. You can come here (or any other blog space) and admire what you see, but please don’t let me deceive you. If you see a clean and clearly styled room (like above) it probably looked like a tornado ripped through it right after the picture was taken (see bottom pictures) and most other times. It’s the reality with four kids. I have hideous messes (proof here and here), I sit on the potty and do my business, and, on occasion, pass stinky gas too. Just on occasion though, most times it comes out like roses! Bloggers aren’t aren’t anything special or the shizzle (no offense), they are just random normal people who decided to let you peek in, but they go through everything you do too. Think about that next time you are sitting on the potty. So as you read blogs (mine or anyone else), read with appreciation (love how my friend Frances phrased it), and not with envy because envy is not good for anyone.

Last blog tip… only read blogs you like. There was a blog that I liked, then I didn’t like, but would still check in to see the train wreck that was occurring in that space, but that would just fuel negativity in me and well, I didn’t like it, so I just stopped reading it. Sometimes it’s hard to look away from a wreck isn’t it?!! You don’t have to love every blog out there, there are tons of people sharing and I am sure you can find one that really just resonates positively with you and some that won’t. Don’t read the ones that don’t. I don’t think I am for everyone and please if you don’t care for what you see here, don’t waste your time. You really have better things to do with it.

Okay, I don’t know how a “Welcome to my site” turned into that, but I think those are important things that need to be said. Well, to all of you who take the time to pop in here, thank you and I hope you continue to stick around! There may be a few kinks with the new site, so if you see any, just let me know in the comments or if you like it (or don’t like it) feel free to say so too! Thanks friends!!!

 *In the move, some formatting was lost, so if the old posts have long paragraphs, forgive the mistake, but I just don’t have time to fix every post. My neurotic self wants to, but there is just only so many hours in a day.

It’s our seven year anniversary on Monday. Seven? Really?!! That flew by really fast. We aren’t quite sure what our plans are and seeing how we just got back from a road trip, we aren’t sure we want to go on another. Whatever we decide, and we must decide soon, I just want to relax and be with Ben.

I am taking off from this space until Tuesday and will be back with a fun announcement (hopefully) by then. And in case you’re wondering… no, I am not pregnant. Happy weekending friends!

{picture circa 2005 on our honeymoon and dang that boy’s hot!!!}

Ours was filled with fun, family, food and of course fireworks. No matter how old you are and how many times you’ve seen it, fireworks are still pretty captivating.

If you’re stateside, I hope you had a good time celebrating too!

The tomatoes are growing like crazy and doing better at this time than any of our previous years. Ben attributes it to the special concoction he put in when they were planted. We finally picked our first harvest and this is the first time ever we had any to pick in June. And boy are they good! Out of this first harvest, the snow white variety was my fave. It was so sweet. Sweeter than any tomato I have ever had. Get ready for all the tomato show and telling that will be happening this summer. I have a feeling there will be a lot.What’s your favorite type of tomato?

Kids are natural collectors. They really find the beauty and fun in the simplest of things. Their most favorite collection from this weekend… their “sleeping” beetles. Brave even took hers to church, kept it in her pocket and was showing everyone and kissing it. Yes, kissingit! She was also getting everyone to pet it. Not everyone was quite enthused about it, but they did it. Brave is so cute with her pet beetle!