Ask Doug: What do guys want for Valentine’s Day?

Helping to fix things or explaining why men still wear their oldest t shirt, Doug gives us the man’s perspective.

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Most Valentine’s Day gifts are for women. What do guys want for Valentine’s Day?
–Hoping for flowers at the office in Houston

One of my favorite presents was a trip to the grocery store.

I remember the clear, cloudless day, sun shining down on me proudly pushing my cart into Central Market. Rachel was with me, and some friends who came along.

I picked up a steak and set it in the cart. Rachel said, “That’s great, Doug!”

I grabbed some chips. Rachel said, “That’s really great, Doug!”

I picked up some really expensive jam. Rachel said, “Yum, that will be really great, Doug!”

In fact everything I picked up got the same response from her (or very close to it), and that was my present: I could choose anything I wanted, and she could only say how great everything was. What an awesome gift that was, a trip to the grocery store.

So what did I get, besides some red AND yellow peppers?

I got what most men want. I was accepted.

This was a tough question. I could have handled tools, philosophy, or politics much easier than this one. Maybe the next question could be how many lights per foot do you plan for a Christmas tree.

What can you do to make a man feel accepted? I’ll suggest a few man-centric thoughts to you ladies out there… if you’re a man and reading this you can give me a silent fist bump.

It helps a man feel accepted when he knows that the things he has already done are more important than the things he has not done yet.

A guy likes it when a woman acts like she has everything she wants when she has him.

A man will notice if you listen to him.

I have no idea what it cost Rachel to make that trip to the grocery store with me. It was simply one of my best gifts. Find a way to make your man feel accepted, now that’s a Valentine’s Day present.

Have a question? Send it to Ask Doug.

Doug’s first job was in a meatpacking plant. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona. He’s read the works of C. S. Lewis. He’s manly, and he’s here to help.

Small Notebook Recommends

Every now and then I look over at something in our home and think, “Wow, that was a really good purchase!”

Sometimes I even like something enough that I want to tell other people about it, but I wouldn’t want Small Notebook to become a blog about products. It’s just not about the stuff.

To have a place to share recommendations, I’d like to introduce “Small Notebook Recommends” — a new Amazon shop filled with the stuff we use and love.

As someone who is careful with money and who doesn’t like clutter, I am very purposeful about what I buy. I care about good quality. I want to buy something once and have it last a long time.

I’ll read Amazon reviews and check prices across websites. I’ll spend so much time comparing, contrasting, and deliberating that Doug says, “Enough already! Just buy it.”

Here you’ll find a few of our favorite kitchen tools, books, toys, baby stuff, and other home goods. These are a few of the things that we personally use and love at our house and that we feel were money well spent.

You can find Small Notebook Recommends via this little button:

Anything you purchase supports Small Notebook and our little family if you begin your visit to Amazon by clicking over through a link from Small Notebook. (It doesn’t have to be something we recommend, it can be anything you’ve decided to buy.)

I hope you enjoy looking around. Thanks for reading here and all of your support.

Back Room Makeover: Procrastinating

The back room still looks much the same as it did a couple of weeks ago. I blink and a week goes by!

I did learn something very important:

If you want to complete several house projects, plan to work on something big and unappealing. Suddenly you will feel motivated to do all sorts of other jobs instead!

What we’ve been finishing (and a preview of what you’ll see on Small Notebook in February…)

Not to mention keeping up with this…

How I love the weekend!

May you have a happy weekend too.

A Tip for Photographing or Scanning Your Child’s Art

One way to reduce the amount of artwork that you should save for your child is to photograph it or scan it. When you take a picture of that new masterpiece, make sure your child is often in the photo too.

Lane goes to a small class once a week, and when I pick her up she always has a new piece of artwork to bring home. I keep a camera in my purse, and I take a picture of her right there, when she is most excited to show me what she has made.

This way, even if we’re trailing cotton balls all the way to the car, I know I’ve already taken care of it.

Because even though I’ll ooh and ahh over the picture, what I really love is her.

Some pieces of art are scanned so that we can see the details. If something has a story to go with it, I write it for her along the edge of the page, so that we’ll remember it later. I write the date, too.

Special pictures are saved in a folder — a portfolio, as Renee from FIMBY calls it. I love that.

And we don’t save everything of course, just the ones we like the best.