Lobsters, Laptops and Closets Oh My

In my little teeny tiny mind I think President Obama should give each tax paying adult a check for $30,000 and watch it stimulate the economy better than any stimulus package he can think of. Seriously - $60K in the house of Cali Girl would go a long way and would stimulate the economy with us finishing our basement and taking a vacation – pretty sure other households would do similar things with all that money. What would you do with $30K per adult in your house?

I’m a realist; I know that won’t happen. …So here at the house of Cali Girl we are doing out best to stimulate the economy without a fun little check from the government.

My Valentine’s Day gift to the hubs was a lobster dinner. We don’t believe in going out to dinner for lobster, so we buy it at the local grocery store and steam it ourselves and light a gazillion candles to get rid of the boiling seafood rank smell. It’s as easy as can be and delish. We both had an abundant and decadent amount of lobster – two 2 pound lobster each. Yikes, but hey we wanted to stimulate the economy! The hubs ate his dripping in butter and I ate mine with lemon only, which was a new experience for me…but my abundant tush needs to squeeze into a bathing suit on May 1st and that was only 8 points of lobster! Aside from my 11 month old bundle of joy crying and whining while we were trying to finish our dinner together, it was a lovely meal.

My Valentine (aka the hubs) bought me a laptop. It started out as a mini laptop (have you seen these cute little things?), then went to a regular size for $50 more, then ended with a Dell laptop because they were having a sale. You see…we really do want to do our part in stimulating the economy, so we upgraded. The hubs was very sweet and upgraded even further to get me a pink laptop. Thank you, my dear Valentine! I will look at its oh so girly color and smile and giggle when I see my big burly hubs using it.

Valentine’s Day weekend also greeted us with a new closet system from Easy Closets.com. When planned for a walk-in closet in our master bedroom when we built our house, but never finished it. We have his and hers reach in closets, so the walk-in was never a priority. It became a priority and now we have a beautiful closet system. When it’s finished, I’ll post some photos. Of course you know this means that I will have to further stimulate the economy and buy some lovely clothes to fill it up!

Tuesday's Tip Jar

Eight years ago today I married my best friend, so today it's only fitting that my Tuesday's Tip jar will be my tips for a successful marriage.

1) Realize that the man you married has the same basic personality traits he did on the day you got married. You'll never be able to change those personality traits, so stop trying.

2) Love your husband for who he is; faults and all. He loves you faults and all. Stop apologizing for your faults. They are yours; together with the good, they make you uniquely you.

3) Accept that there will be one overly sensitive spouse and one not-so sensitive spouse. Work on seeing things from the opposite point of view.

4) Go out together. Don't only have girls' nights. It's not healthy to only spend time out with your girlfriends. It leads to mistrust, less communication and temptation that can and should be avoided. Have date nights and throw a girls' night in there occasionally.

5) Be open and honest at all times. There's no need to keep secrets from each other.

6) Marriage is hard work, but it is worth it. Don't give up at the first sign of trouble. You entered into it with vows that told you it was going to be both good and bad. Stick with it through the bad; you'll be glad you did.

7) Enjoy each other.

Happy, happy anniversary, Hubs!