Comments on: Lesson 2: It’s Not the Thought that Counts

By: WifeAdvice.com - funny marriage stories from a clueless husband and his patient wife » Blog Archive » Don’t Tell Your Wife that Someone Had to Talk You Out of a Terrible Gift

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:04:24 +0000

[...] You may think this post sounds familiar, and it should. Last year I explained that telling your wife about a gift you wanted to get her doesn’t actually count unless you buy it: Lesson 2: It’s Not The Thought That Counts [...]

By: The Donkey

The Donkey — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 04:28:34 +0000

This is an excellent suggestion on this matter. We had some friends over last night and they brought my wife flowers. Looks like I am off the hook for another year. Thanks to Heather.
October 17, 2007 8:28 PM

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:27:18 +0000

All guys probably make this mistake, my boyfriend used to upset me with that one all the time ’til I explained it to him simply: in two out of three cases, the thought does count.

Case one: you wanted to do something, but you couldn’t for reasons beyond your control. The thought counts.

Case two: you wanted to do something, and you could do something, so you followed through with the action. The thought counts, but you may not get praised for it as the action counts more. This leads to..

Case three: you wanted to do something, and you could do something, but you didn’t. Action > thought. Negative action (ie. no action) = negative reaction (ie. her getting annoyed with you).

Basically, don’t say you wanted to do something unless you couldn’t, and let her know you couldn’t. Give valid reasons, like I said things beyond your control. Not something flimsy that’ll make her doubt how much she’s worth to you.

Surely that’s the reason you wanted to do it in the first place right, to let her know how much she’s worth to you? How much you love her? That you’ll buy her flowers, because you know SHE’D like them, irregardless of your own feelings towards them. If you find it hard to be that selfless though, a single red rose is a very romantic gesture. It’s fairly foolproof in that all women should appreciate it, and a single flower isn’t going to cost a fortune or stink up the place.

Hope this helps!

By: mrs. everything

mrs. everything — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 17:30:00 +0000

I am at work! I am laughing too loud! Patrons are shushing ME!

By: Karlmalone

Karlmalone — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:27:00 +0000

Last Valentine’s day I went to greeting card store with my wife and showed her the card I would buy her if I wanted to spend $5 on a card she would glance at and throw in a drawer for eternity.

$5 saved and some crappy Hallmark poetry delivered…what could be more romantic?

By: Brittany

Brittany — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:30:00 +0000

I also would like to vote for Doug as the official creep. How dare he not include himself.

By: phillyz

phillyz — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 13:07:00 +0000

this is the only place to comment on the poll, I definately think Lord Baldemort is the official creep, but Doug should definately be included i think it would be a close race between the two of them

By: phillyz

phillyz — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:56:00 +0000

anonymous makes a good point, using the money for something that you feel is not a waste is a very good idea.

By: phillyz

phillyz — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:21:00 +0000

what’s with the annonymous? can you post comments as an identifiable person please

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 23:57:00 +0000

As a woman, I would definitely buy an excuse like, “I was going to buy you flowers, but they are expensive and will die in a few days, so I thought we could use the money to get your favorite (insert here ice cream or movie or dinner or save for a date, etc).” This way, the stupid flowers argument is out the window and the thought turns into an action of some other sort you two can decide on together.