Whatever You Want Honey

Hey guys. A little advice to you from a happily married man.

When your wife (or significant other) seems a little down, do your best to make her day.

Examples of ways to put a smile on her face.

1. Bring her flowers. Even if she says that they will just die, nothing says I’m thinking about you than a bouquet of fresh flowers. (They do not even have to be roses. But know your woman, if she loathes pansies, do not get pansies!)
2. Give her the day off and/or day out. If she likes getting her nails done (fingers and toes) let her do it. Chances are she pampers you (and you may not even realize it) so let her pamper herself.
3. If your lady is introverted, like mine, and she feels good about herself when she gets her eyebrows or hair done or go to the tanning salon, etc. let her go. Make it one better and tell her you will take care of the cost!
4. If she is with her friend(s) or even by herself, watch the kids, even if they are not yours. Tell them to have fun! Then take the kiddies to the park, on a hike, for a movie or some other fun kiddy adventure for at least two to three hours so that the ladies can decompress in their own way.
5. Find a way to give your honey a mini-vacation. Ask someone you trust to watch the little ones so the two of you can go off to a hotel, the beach, camping, whatever where it is just the two of you. Leave on a Friday after work and come back Sunday afternoon. Visit a quaint little church or another in your own town to mix it up a little. The change can be refreshing and exciting.

The only way to make these suggestions work is if you know your special lady. Let her be the center of your attention. Do this at least once a month. You do not have to splurge big, but you should splurge enough for it to be special to her.

Have fun!

-D

It was 9 am on a Saturday morning. My wife, her BFF (Heather), my son (Kaleb) and I are sitting on Heather’s front porch drinking our morning jolt of caffeine and conversing about what we were going to do today.

My son is such a man with his hands down his pants. Heather said, “Get your hands out of your pants, it is not going anywhere. It’s a complex you men have.”

To which he replied, “Girls have Thingys, too.”

I guess to experience the whole story you have to know that my wife and I debated what to call the male and female body parts ever since my son was born. Because we were never able to give “them” names that were age appropriate, we just called it a “thingy“.

Then, I said, “No. Girls do not have Thingys.”

Kaleb replied, “Uhn ha. Let me see!”

Now, how do you explain the differences in anatomy to a curious five year old?

This is what stumbled out of my mouth, not that I endorse this explanation, nor do I know if this is the correct way to handle the situation properly, but it is what came out. So I suppose I have to live with the err of my morning mind and lack of caffeine coursing through my blood.

“Kaleb,” I blurted, “boys have ‘outies‘ and girls have ‘innies‘.”

To my surprise, Kaleb asked, “Oh, like when they are scared?”

We could not contain our laughter. For the next few moments the tears poured out.

When the laughter calmed down, I said, “No. they are ‘innies‘ all the time.”

Then he continued, “Why?”

Oh, that I could turn the clock back and replay this scenario in a much more eloquent way. I could have said, “Don’t worry about that, yet.” or “When you are old enough to understand, I will tell you about it.” or “Let’s ask Pastor Myron.”

Any of those responses would have been good.

But being the Christian and the wannabe scientist rolled into one, I responded with a retort, “Well, you see when a baby is growing in a mommy’s belly, God makes the baby either a girl or boy. If He wants the baby to be a girl, then she gets an ‘innie’. If He wants the baby to be a boy, he gets an ‘outie’.”

To my elation, this was enough to satisfy my son’s curiosity on the topic.

To give further background, we have found that the “Why” questions stop when we say, “Because God said so.” or “Because God made it that way.”

An example of this was recently when Kaleb asked why it rains. I told him all about the water cycle. (I know, this explanation of evaporation, condensation and precipitation is a little over his head, but I do not want to talk down to him. After all, he is an adult in training.)

He then repeats his question. Then I said, “Because God wanted to make it rain.”

Then I get the sweetest reply, “Oh, ’cause God said so. Like when you say, ‘Daddy says so?’”

Do you know that children bring the greatest pleasures in life. You just cannot help but smile.

Today is a day that the Lord made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! - Psalm 118:24

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This is my first Thakful Thursday blog post. My wife, Becki, said, "You know there are not many guys who participate in Thankful Thursday."

To which I replied, "I am on it." I love being a pioneer. Slap on my boots and take a walk on the wild side. Ok. So I am not like that often. I do like being the wild one on occassion. …back to the purpose of this post:

I am Thankful for:

1. First and foremost, my Saviour, Jesus Christ! Without His divine intervention, I would likely be in jail. I may or may not share that tidbit here. Some things are too private.
2. My wife who is not always pleasant to be around but is always the love of my life! (I might be sleeping on the sofa tonight and her BFF will be replacing me. Did I mention that we are visiting my wife’s best friend in Virginia and sleeping in her bedroom?)
3. My son who is a joy to be around except when he goes nuclear.
4. My family who are, well… my family.
5. My friends who love an cherish me, ok, so everyone above does, too.
6. My occupation which is fun at times, vexing at others, but provides a lifestyle that I am accustomed to.
7. The knowledge that I have been blessed with and was able to retain. Cause, as I age, I am losing more than a few strands of hair (hence the hat on the "About the Man" page).

I am not thankful for my hair or memory loss. I just want to make that clear.

- D

A few days have gone by and the troubles of a little over a week ago seem miniscule now. The pleasure that time can heal all wounds happens to be true in this case. Thank God!!!

To update you, I wanted to let you know that yesterday we, (wife, son and dog [the cat is being cared for by our wonderful neighbors]) picked up and drove 300 + miles to the great state of Virginia to visit with one of our very special and dearly loved friends, Heather. She has graciously opened her home to us, well, technically we were supposed to watch her children while she was hopping all over the US doing various things. But as luck would have it, at the last moment she didn’t go and we get to spend some QT with her.

So, as a result, I am working remotely. Did I mention before that I love my job?? Thankfully, she is as sweet as can be because my wife and I have taken over her office (and bedroom).

Speaking of QT, I have been working non-stop today. I guess it is time to sign off for the day and pick up tomorrow.

-D

I do not know if you heard that saying before or not. “Idle Hands Are the Devil’s Playground.” What it means is, someone who has too much time on their hands and no productive way to use that time wind up in trouble.

But let us consider the opposite. “Busy Hands Are the Devil’s Playground.” I know, you are probably thinking, “How?”

Well, this past week has been close to the busiest I’ve been in months. While I am staying out of trouble, I’ve been neglectful in several areas. I did not pick up my Bible, ok…I did once to help a friend find a passage. I spent very little time with my little boy (four hours yesterday driving to and then dropping him off at his grandmother’s house doesn’t really count as quality time) and very little time with my loving wife (maybe two hours of “non-business related” conversation).

Is this good?? No. Nope. Nada. Not even close.

So the question for you all is, how do you turn a week like my past one into a learning experience that you can actually learn from?

My first idea is to better manage my time. While that is good in theory, I do not have the time to figure that one out. Any suggestions?

My second idea is take on less work. Yeah, like that would work.

My third idea is to subcontract out more work. While that idea is the most appealing, it can sometimes be feast or famine and then the hassle of finding someone (again) who is better than me at what I do without having to shell out more than I get paid.

So, I am asking for feedback. Tell me what you do to manage your time better. What REALLY works and what doesn’t.

-D

P.S. Next time won’t be a week until you hear from me again.