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Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Original poster
Feb 21, 2012
55,266
53,031
Behind the Lens, UK
A watch is a fantastic idea. Which is why I got her one for her birthday!

Your spot on about the other stuff. I've offered to get her a spa weekend, but she says she would hate it.

I'll see if I can get her out for a night out or something. We probably only get out about once every couple of years together.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,997
46,458
In a coffee shop.
A watch is a fantastic idea. Which is why I got her one for her birthday!

Your spot on about the other stuff. I've offered to get her a spa weekend, but she says she would hate it.

I'll see if I can get her out for a night out or something. We probably only get out about once every couple of years together.

Well, if she doesn't want a spa weekend, (does she like that sort of thing? Some love it while others think it self-indulgent), is there any other sort of activity that she would love?

In your dating days, what did you do together? What about cultural stuff - theatres, cinemas, concerts?

Does the day - or night - out have to include yourself, or would she prefer a complete break - from everyone - for a few days?

Between postings abroad, I was the sole (and main) carer for my mother - who has dementia - for around a year in 2012, and I can state, with utter conviction, that there is no more draining, soul-destroying, exhausting, relentless, and stressful job on the planet. To be honest, working in war zones (and I have done that, too) is nowhere nearly as stressful as caring for someone with dementia, or autism. This is because you know it will never get better, so the clutched straw of faint hope - and the optimism it allows - is entirely absent.

Whatever you do, it must be something that is solely focussed on her likes, choices, preferences, activities, something that allows her to be herself, (even if briefly), relax as herself, to recognise her own needs without guilt, and something that recognises her as a person entirely independently of her caring role and responsibilities - because that is how carers come to be seen, merely as an adjunct to the person they are caring for.

In her situation, a week-end of respite care would be very valuable, because that job as a carer is a non-stop, relentless source of endless responsibility.
 
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Clix Pix

macrumors Core
Well, if she doesn't want a spa weekend, (does she like that sort of thing? Some love it while others think it self-indulgent), is there any other sort of activity that she would love?

In your dating days, what did you do together? What about cultural stuff - theatres, cinemas, concerts?

Does the day - or night - out have to include yourself, or would she prefer a complete break - from everyone - for a few days?

Between postings abroad, I was the sole (and main) carer for my mother - who has dementia - for around a year in 2012, and I can state, with utter conviction, that there is no more draining, soul-destroying, exhausting, relentless, and stressful job on the planet. To be honest, working in war zones (and I have done that, too) is nowhere nearly as stressful as caring for someone with dementia, or autism. This is because you know it will never get better, so the clutched straw of faint hope - and the optimism it allows - is entirely absent.

Whatever you do, it must be something that is solely focussed on her likes, choices, preferences, activities, something that allows her to be herself, (even if briefly), relax as herself, to recognise her own needs without guilt, and something that recognises her as a person entirely independently of her caring role and responsibilities - because that is how carers come to be seen, merely as an adjunct to the person they are caring for.

In her situation, a week-end of respite care would be very valuable, because that job as a carer is a non-stop, relentless source of endless responsibility.

EXCELLENT points and ideas! Early this month I helped a friend look after her mother with dementia, and that way her brother, who is the usual primary caregiver, was able to take a week to himself and go off and just do his own thing, which he very badly needed. He was greatly appreciative of this. Since my friend is physically disabled herself, I did the physical aspects of the caregiving -- assistance in the bathroom, assistance with dressing, bathing, etc., and dealing with the incontinence issues. My friend administered her mother's daily meds and tried to do some simple puzzles with her, and all three of us watched DVDs and such. By the end of the week I was totally exhausted, both physically and emotionally. This kind of thing really is extremely draining.

So, yes, I agree that if you can find some sort of respite care and give your wife a week's break from her caregiving responsibilities or perhaps give her a gift which is truly unrelated to dealing with autism and is just for your wife herself and what she would really enjoy having, that could be a real blessing that she isn't even aware that she needs.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,486
26,602
The Misty Mountains
For the OP, many spouses will drop hints. Is this the case? Clothes and jewelry (with a return slip) always seem like safe bets, even an expensive purse if your spouse leans in that direction. Unless you got a specific request, perfume is too dangerous to have a miss. Don't get things for the house, again unless you've had a specific request or hints like your wife is a dedicated cook and has been adoring that big fancy mixer. :)
 

takao

macrumors 68040
Dec 25, 2003
3,827
605
Dornbirn (Austria)
For the OP, many spouses will drop hints. Is this the case? Clothes and jewelry (with a return slip) always seem like safe bets, even an expensive purse if your spouse leans in that direction. Unless you got a specific request, perfume is too dangerous to have a miss. Don't get things for the house, again unless you've had a specific request or hints like your wife is a dedicated cook and has been adoring that big fancy mixer. :)

I already learnt that lesson not to take house related hint or requests too seriously in my family:

a few years ago after my sister moved into a differnt student flat where she lived alone she was constantly talking "i really need a vacuum cleaner", "having a small vacuum cleaner would be so great","i would save so much time with a vaccuum". It was going on for months.

Christmas rolled around and our mother bought her a vaccum.

Not the most "merry" christmas after opening that big present. But sure one of the funnierones. (Well .. at least for me ;) )

Most hilarous:
1 month before christmas:

My sister: "i really want book X from author D"
Me: "author D sure is funny, i loved his other book Y"
My sister: "yeah that one is great"

Christmas-shopping: i obviously buy book X from author D for her.

First present for me i open: Book X
Me [hectically checking the name label again]: "What ? This cannot be, there has to be a mix-up"
Sister [seeing my concerned & puzzled face]: "Don't you like it ? I thought you loved author D"
Me[realizing what happened]: "Wait until you open your present"
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Original poster
Feb 21, 2012
55,266
53,031
Behind the Lens, UK
For the OP, many spouses will drop hints. Is this the case? Clothes and jewelry (with a return slip) always seem like safe bets, even an expensive purse if your spouse leans in that direction. Unless you got a specific request, perfume is too dangerous to have a miss. Don't get things for the house, again unless you've had a specific request or hints like your wife is a dedicated cook and has been adoring that big fancy mixer. :)

If only I got hints! She says not to bother.
We agreed 18 years ago when we met to never buy clothes so we don't (except novelty Disney socks I slways buy her which my daughter steals). She doesn't like Jewellery or purses. She doesn't where perfume any more. As for cooking it's not really her thing.
 

Huntn

macrumors Core
May 5, 2008
23,486
26,602
The Misty Mountains
If only I got hints! She says not to bother.
We agreed 18 years ago when we met to never buy clothes so we don't (except novelty Disney socks I slways buy her which my daughter steals). She doesn't like Jewellery or purses. She doesn't where perfume any more. As for cooking it's not really her thing.

Well if she really doesn't care, get somthing like a gift certificate, but I've been told gift certificates don't really count to some people, not the same as a surprise, but I'd choose one in an instant versus getting something I don't want. Years ago I gave up on trying to surprise my wife. As far as she is concerned it's Christmas all year long so she usually tells me what she is getting. This year which I never would have guessed, was a couple of Dept56 Christmas Village houses to replace some that were broken. After all she has shoes, purses, and jewelry... How much of that can you use? With a woman, you might be surprised. :p
 

Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Original poster
Feb 21, 2012
55,266
53,031
Behind the Lens, UK
Well if she really doesn't care, get somthing like a gift certificate, but I've been told gift certificates don't really count to some people, not the same as a surprise, but I'd choose one in an instant versus getting something I don't want. Years ago I gave up on trying to surprise my wife. As far as she is concerned it's Christmas all year long so she usually tells me what she is getting. This year which I never would have guessed, was a couple of Dept56 Christmas Village houses to replace some that were broken. After all she has shoes, purses, and jewelry... How much of that can you use? With a woman, you might be surprised. :p

Considering I work for for a living and she doesn't, and we have a joint account, giving her an Amazon or iTunes gift card would be meaningless.
 

Hungry&Foolish

Suspended
Mar 29, 2012
461
2
Since she is home most of her time, think of something which will make her life more easier doing some mundane chores, you are a better judge of what she has to do every day which she is not fond of.
My wife on the other hand has been telling me since weeks, what Santa has in store for her this year.
 

Scepticalscribe

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Jul 29, 2008
63,997
46,458
In a coffee shop.

Well, how about a cordless drill then? ��

Hopefully not sounding too sexist, but as a gender and a semi-rule, women seem highly attracted to the "really nice and totally useless" category of gifts. :D

Chocolate, Chocolate and more chocolate.

Have any of you actually read - and given thought to - what the OP has written?

This is a woman who doesn't much like chocolate, doesn't much care for jewellery, and has no time - because of the circumstances of her life, which are that she is a full time carer for an autistic child - for frivolities, or for tokens of affection which come under the heading of the utterly useless.

It is not just that such a gift will be seen as a total waste of time and money (both things in short supply to someone who does not have an independent source of income, as the OP has already informed us when he mentioned that he is the only person who earns an income from work), it is that they will be seen as frivolous, and thus, tediously tiresome.

Here, the task of the OP is not to give something which will make him feel good, - but to find something that she needs or values and seek to supply it.

Household items won't cut it, and neither will tokens or trinkets. These are just more work, or something she will have no time for, nor will she value. This is someone whose every waking moment is measured in terms of shouldering responsibility, so anything which allows her to be herself - in other words not defined as someone's wife, or someone else's carer, - will be welcome.

Anything which allows her to claim time and space for herself alone will be extraordinarily valuable, and this is what you need to think of. That means a break from caring or emotionally draining responsibilities, and a break from any occasion where any further emotional commitments will be required from her.

In your position, I would actually pay someone - or ask someone (plural) to do the caring for a few days and give your wife a complete break from everything. When I was caring for my mother, that is what I valued most: someone or something that would give you a complete break from caring responsibilities for a few hours, or days, not tokens which you had no time to acknowledge let alone use, still less labour saving devices which were presents for the house, not yourself.
 
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Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Original poster
Feb 21, 2012
55,266
53,031
Behind the Lens, UK
Have any of you actually read - and given thought to - what the OP has written?

This is a woman who doesn't much like chocolate, doesn't much care for jewellery, and has no time - because of the circumstances of her life, which are that she is a full time carer for an autistic child - for frivolities, or for tokens of affection which come under the heading of the utterly useless.

It is not just that such a gift will be seen as a total waste of time and money (both things in short supply to someone who does not have an independent source of income, as the OP has already informed us when he mentioned that he is the only person who earns an income from work), it is that they will be seen as frivolous, and thus, tediously tiresome.

Here, the task of the OP is not to give something which will make him feel good, - but to find something that she needs or values and seek to supply it.

Household items won't cut it, and neither will tokens or trinkets. These are just more work, or something she will have no time for, nor will she value. This is someone whose every waking moment is measured in terms of shouldering responsibility, so anything which allows her to be herself - in other words not defined as someone's wife, or someone else's carer, - will be welcome.

Anything which allows her to claim time and space for herself alone will be extraordinarily valuable, and this is what you need to think of. That means a break from caring or emotionally draining responsibilities, and a break from any occasion where any further emotional commitments will be required from her.

In your position, I would actually pay someone - or ask someone (plural) to do the caring for a few days and give your wife a complete break from everything. When I was caring for my mother, that is what I valued most: someone or something that would give you a complete break from caring responsibilities for a few hours, or days, not tokens which you had no time to acknowledge let alone use, still less labour saving devices which were presents for the house, not yourself.


Tbh, I'm pretty sure quite a few of the posters didn't read my posts!

Anyway, I got my daughter a PS4 today as a joint Birthday and Christmas gift. That should hopefully free up sometime at the weekend for my daughter and I to do stuff together and free up some time for Mrs AFB. Normally she prefers time with her mum, not her dad.
On the gift front I'm still open to suggestions. I'd like to find her some physical stuff to open on Christmas Day. My other treat I do every year on Christmas Day is I do all the cooking and washing up etc. of course I do at other times as well, but I always make sure she doesn't have to on Christmas Day. One of our traditions.
 
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