A Word to the Wise

[Dan Hintz]

Amy was quite ecstatic to get her iPad 2 for a combined birthday/Chanukkah present (couldn't get it in time for Chanukkah, was even late for her birthday by a month or more... gave her a box with a picture of it inside), and the Motorola Charge smart phone I got her last week has been a real hit. Being corded isn't a bad thing, it just depends on what they're after.





And john/Jim... if you guys need corded, you're not doing it right

[Larry Edgerton]

Here is one of my less-than-brilliant moves:

Noticing that slots for pliers, screwdrivers, etc. would occasionally empty themselves while I was out of the shop, I got the clever idea to get SWMBO - as just one of her presents that Christmas - a small plastic box from the hardware store, and put in it brand new set of Craftsman screwdrivers, pliers, dikes, tape measure, small hammer, small crescent wrench - that type of stuff - for the kitchen.

Whoa, Buddy..........SOMEONE lost their sense of humor. But, in the end, it was "message received". None of those slots ever turned up empty again, and other, more specialized things that do get borrowed from time-to-time always immediately return home.

I just bought my wife a Kennedy tool box. She loved it!

I bought her a really cool shoulder Vacuum. She loved it!

I have bought her a Kitchenaid, a Kayak, a car, a stove, a lawnmower, a trimmer just her size, her own tool set, etc. etc.

I have been working a lot and have not gotten to the slow bathroom drain, and she went and bought a drain snake and did it herself while I was at work. Yesterday she bought the brick for the chimney on the new house and helped me move them.
And, we had fun.....

Years ago I did buy her a diamond necklace with yellow gold chain. She said I should know she only buys white gold!

I told her right then and there that she will never get another piece of jewelry from me, and other than a wedding ring I never have again. I don't buy clothes, or anything else she wears, except winter coats.

So.... as you can see different things work for different people. My wife loves me and knows I love her, and she does not place conditions on it or test me. I am the same way with her, what she does is fine, what she buys is fine and at the end of the day I want to be sitting on the other end of the couch with her.

Of course it took me three wives to find one so cool.............

[Rod Sheridan]

Different people appreciate different gifts.

One year I bought a pair of Metzler tires for Diann's bike, and gave them to her for Valentines Day.

That was part of the "Nothing says "I love you more than a set of tires" approach.

The guys at work were planning to check the obituaries to see how well my plan worked out.

Diann was elated to receive a set of tires for her bike..................Your personal experience with this approach may vary...........Rod.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I just bought my wife a Kennedy tool box. She loved it!

I bought her a really cool shoulder Vacuum. She loved it!

I have bought her a Kitchenaid, a Kayak, a car, a stove, a lawnmower, a trimmer just her size, her own tool set, etc. etc.

I have been working a lot and have not gotten to the slow bathroom drain, and she went and bought a drain snake and did it herself while I was at work. Yesterday she bought the brick for the chimney on the new house and helped me move them.
And, we had fun.....

Years ago I did buy her a diamond necklace with yellow gold chain. She said I should know she only buys white gold!

I told her right then and there that she will never get another piece of jewelry from me, and other than a wedding ring I never have again. I don't buy clothes, or anything else she wears, except winter coats.

So.... as you can see different things work for different people. My wife loves me and knows I love her, and she does not place conditions on it or test me. I am the same way with her, what she does is fine, what she buys is fine and at the end of the day I want to be sitting on the other end of the couch with her.

Of course it took me three wives to find one so cool.............

Larry.....I lucked out the same way but under different circumstances.....got drafted....enlisted...got a 51 day delayed entry....12 days to go...told my drinking buddies I would like a date with a blonde with a good personality......They said they knew the girl where did I want to meet her for the date? The next night, a Saturday night....she met me in a parking lot of local hamburger joint and we went for our first date......the next day on Sunday she brought her 2 kids from her first marriage and we went on a picnic....the next evening we went on a date and I asked her to marry me. 8 days later I left for bootcamp after signing over my checking and savings accounts. 2 days after I got home from bootcamp we were married. 3 years later after reenlisting, I adopted those 2 kids and we eventually had one more child. We celebrated our 42nd anniversary this past Christmas Eve.....like your wife....she's very level headed.....great heart and personality......and I just want to continue to share our lives together.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Corded AND gasoline motored things both work at our house. Sue was thrilled the year she got a new glass topped stove for Christmas since she had been less than subtly hinting for months about the immenent death of the old 4 burner stove. Ditto the year she got a new computer, the year of the new kitchen lighting, etc. While I use the tractor to mow the lawn, Sue doesn't like to use it and I bought her a push lawnmower and later she got a 2 wheeled string trimmer for brush. On the other hand, the occasional bit of jewelry is now acceptable after many many years of her not wearing it. Evolution I guess. She thinks the presents are nice, but the real enthusiastic response is when I do a small unexpected kindness like a load of laundry or two. We both tend to do the traditional married division of household chores, but we are not adverse to occasional changes or reassignment.

[Belinda Barfield]

Geez, I'd be happy just to get a gift - corded or not. The SO doesn't do gifts . . . ever. Once when I returned from a particularly serious doctor visit for a biopsy I found flowers on my desk.

[Matt Day]

What happened to "it's the thought that counts"? Not even curling irons, hair driers, heated towel racks, or electronic gadgets?

I'm very lucky to have an understanding wife, and she is honest. I've tried really hard in the past to get her gifts I think she'll like, but she's admittedly very selective (read picky) with her purchases and she appreciates how hard I try but she usually returns it. It did bother me a little at first, but it makes sense. How many of us have gotten gifts and never used it or enjoyed it? Seems like a waste of money doesn't it? She and I have come to the understanding that she needs to drop hints of what she wants and I'll get it. To me this means she basically tells me what she wants, because being a man I don't pick up on the ways of the fairer sex most of the time. Or, she buys it herself, shows me, and thanks me for the great Chistmas/anniversary/birthday gift. I do the same, except I just put a list of tools or cycling stuff together and give it to her, or buy it myself. Makes life easier and less stressful around the holidays!

[Bonnie Campbell]

Along the line of 'hints'... why do so many women think their extremely subtle hints are going to be noted? Geesh! Tell the poor guy what you want! My daughter is horrible about expecting her husband to read her mind. I told her I didn't want to hear ONE complaint from her again about a gift he buys her.

I've gotten appliances, jewelry, a ladders, a wagon, tools and what not as gifts. I've appreciated whatever I've gotten. Guess I'm an oddball.

[Larry Edgerton]

Larry.....I lucked out the same way but under different circumstances.....got drafted....enlisted...got a 51 day delayed entry....12 days to go...told my drinking buddies I would like a date with a blonde with a good personality......They said they knew the girl where did I want to meet her for the date? The next night, a Saturday night....she met me in a parking lot of local hamburger joint and we went for our first date......the next day on Sunday she brought her 2 kids from her first marriage and we went on a picnic....the next evening we went on a date and I asked her to marry me. 8 days later I left for bootcamp after signing over my checking and savings accounts. 2 days after I got home from bootcamp we were married. 3 years later after reenlisting, I adopted those 2 kids and we eventually had one more child. We celebrated our 42nd anniversary this past Christmas Eve.....like your wife....she's very level headed.....great heart and personality......and I just want to continue to share our lives together.

My first date with my wife was 10 days in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and on up the St. Laurance and back to Michigan. We stayed at all the best places, a couple of 5 Stars, and had a riot. I explained to her that it was all going to be downhill from there.

When we got married we spent a week in a remote cabin with no running water, read that an out house, and fished and Kayaked in the Lake Superior area. That is the one she always talks about. I am a lucky man indeed!

She just called me, a thing that happens every Monday, to explain that she misses me, the normal Monday morning withdrawals. I feel the same.

Finally! So this is what it is supposed to be like......... I burnt up a lot of years trying to make the wrong people happy.

Larry

[Jim Koepke]

She is also ready to get rid of the KitchenAid mixer

I bet my Chocolate, chocolate chip cookie recipe would get her to keep it. Just make sure she knows you need the mixer to make them.

Ingredients

2 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 t. salt (I have left this out and not noticed)
1 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon

1/2 pound butter, softened
1-1/2 cup brown sugar (white sugar does not taste as good)

2 eggs (without eggs, dough is drier and cookies thinner & crisper)
1 T vanilla
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine in a bowl flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and clove if used and set aside.

In a large bowl mix the butter and brown sugar until smooth. This is easier if the butter is softened in a microwave first. Beat in eggs and vanilla. If fudge ice cream topping is used, heat in microwave or water bath and blend in at this time.

Gradually add flour mixture. Add chocolate chips and other desired goodies. The dough should be stiff, add more flour if needed cocoa powder can also be added.

Using two tea spoons scoop up a little of the cookie dough in one spoon and use the other to scrape it off onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should not look wet on top when removing from the oven. Small cookies take less time than large cookies. Your time may vary.

Options: 1/4 t. clove powder, macadamia nuts, any kind of nuts, more chocolate chips or add white chocolate chips, mint chips, add half of jar of Dove Dark Chocolate ice cream topping or place a chocolate covered coffee bean on the top of some of the cookies as they are removed from the oven.

jtk

[Jim Rimmer]

LOML comes up with some great ideas for gifts. Since our anniversary comes close to Mother's Day it's hard for me sometimes. This year for M Day she wanted a bedroom repainted and for anniversary she wanted me to finish the refinishing job on her parents' bedroom suite that she inherited. I got both done just in the nick of time and she was pleased. The plus side of this is she asked what I would like as an anniversary gift and I told her that I had just bought a used Leigh DT jig and that it could be my gift. I had been trying to figure out how to break that news and it went just fine and got me off the hook for buying "just one more" tool.

[John Hemenway]

FYI........unlike men, who cherish all manner of electrical devices, especially if they're tool related, I've been advised in quite positive terms by SWMBO that there is absolutely nothing which has a cord that can be called a gift. Further, this view is supported by her (our) married daughters.

In plainer English--if it has a cord it ain't a gift!

Sounds like you need to shop for gifts in the Lie-Nielsen catalog!

[Roy Turbett]

What about gasoline engines? I was considering a new chain saw for my wife.

[Jim Koepke]

What about gasoline engines? I was considering a new chain saw for my wife.

Be sure to get the hockey mask to go with it.

jtk

[Mike Cruz]

I'm with you, John...biting my tongue. Not to mention, if my wife somehow read what I would write, being banned from SMC would be the least of my worries.