Monday, January 9, 2012

Happy Wife/Happy Life Survival Kit

This is the best Christmas gift I have given to my husband who wants NO gift at all!


So, I took a recipe box that I'd want sitting around all year long and put cards in it in two catagories: Free and It'll Cost You


Below you see the instructions. Our lives a pretty ordinary (for me) and I find it tiresome to do the SAME thing EVERY Saturday night (watch a movie and eat popcorn). So, I made cards to include some activities to spice up our lives.
Here is a list of the Free ones:
Make hash browns on Saturday or Sunday morning for your wife who thinks you make THE best ones!
Dance with your sweet wife before your movie date: slow, up-beat #9 on The Help CD.
Dance with your sweet wife before your movie date: slow dance #2 Joe Cocker CD.
Plan a picnic and take your wife on one. Be sure to ask for this date ahead of time; she LOVES "the old hwy pond" where she can observe birds.
Dance with your wife before your movie date: up-beat #5 The Help.
Suggest a discussion about a vacation together for next summer.
Slow dance to #5 on the Don Juan de Marco CD.
Suggest a time of deep prayer together before the movie on Saturday.
Dance with your wife before the movie: up-beat #8 The Help.
Ask Catherine to choose 2 hymns or praise songs to sing before you watch your Saturday night movie.
Dance with your wife the Samba #4 Putumayo Presents An Afro~.
Dance with your wife the cha-cha-cha #7 Armik Isla Del Sol

My Dear Husband doesn't dance, but I have suggested we go to the kitchen and pretend he is dancing while I dance around him, especially on the more active ones. He CAN slow dance.
Hey! If you have more ideas, tell me!!!

Here are the ones that will cost him:
Drive to Riggins for sight-seeing, hiking, and dinner or lunch with Ernie and his wife.
Suggest (ahead of time) going to Super 8 to swim and hot tub before your movie date.
Ask your wife on a coffee date at her favorite coffee shop. You could have a hot chocolate!
Ask Catherine out for lunch sometime this week.
Buy your wife her favorite candy bar; you KNOW the one she loves!
Ask your wife out on a BIG date: dinner and a movie (in a theater) in town or LWS.

Again, tell me if you think of more because there are plenty of blank cards in the box!

We have had GREAT success with this. We have NEVER had a discussion about a vacation, and last year we got one day together. We have already planned in August to go to the Oregon Coast. I call that Spicey!!!!





6 comments:

Stacie, A Firefighter's Wife said...

Catherine, this is such a good idea! I loved all your ideas. I am really going to think about doing this. What about a board game like Scrabble or something?

Loved it!

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

This is just wonderful! What about him getting you your favorite flowers "just because". That would be a good one, too. Perfect gift for the guy who has everything. I LOVE your creativity!

Mimi said...

give your wife a back rub.
Ask for a back rub
free pedicure

read a book together.

Catherine said...

Stacie, Jay plays a lot of Scrabble with his grandkids, so I think he might think of it as a chore. Most of the Free stuff takes a few moments to accomplish, so he's not tortured for long. I AM going to look into some games he may enjoy, however...ones that he'd like even more than watching a movie...hmmmmmm.

Catherine said...

Jay doesn't do flowers well at all, Jackie, so I'd never ask. If he has to pay for them he really dosen't do them, and if not, a dandelion is fine (with him!). He doesn't 'get' it. But if you think of something else, please pass it along.

Also, to Mimi: We both have arthritis in our hands, so rubs are out. And we tend to read different books, he likes religious cheese, mostly. But as you think of anything else...

Connie said...

Very creative idea!
Dance to Joe Cocker? Catherine, you never cease to amaze me. haha

Steve and I like to play cards. We play Golf, Eights and Hearts and I bought a book of card games for two, so we can learn a few more!