Birthday Gifts With Meaning.

If you've been with your spouse/partner ever since you started "liking" boys like I have, when birthdays and anniversaries roll around there's not much inspiration for gifts.  While there are definitely lots of things that I want and a never-ending list of supplies I covet, it's just not all that fun to tell your spouse, "get me these shoes."  Especially since the money all comes out of the same pot in this household and I might as well just buy them myself (which I did....  Happy Birthday to me!)

Here's a list of gifts that bring more meaning than something off of an amazon wishlist...  And bonus! They happen to be easy on the budget too!

1.  Do a project for your spouse/partner that they've been meaning to do but can't seem to get done...  For my birthday this year Chris is going to rabbit-proof the garden, a task that I haven't been able to find the time to do.

2.  Fix something that's been broken for a long time...  Two birthdays ago Chris reattached some dresser knobs that had fallen off and had been rattling around in the drawer for years.  I had gotten so used to them not being there that for months I was surprised to see them back in their proper place.

3.  Pick out some books from the library for your spouse...  I got this idea from my friend Vaara.

4.  Replace something that they already have but hate...  My friend Becky sent me a salad spinner one birthday even though I already had one because the one I had was shitty.  I swear at the new salad spinner a lot less than the old one, YAY!

5.  Give the time and space to get something done...  I would love to have a day of uninterrupted sewing.

6.  Get some JPEGs turned into photos...  I lay awake at night thinking about lost files and wishing we could go back to the days of film and shining light through negatives to get prints.  I once saw a billboard that said, "Mothers, don't let your children grow up to be JPEGs" that struck panic in my heart.  And yet, I STILL rarely get prints of my pictures.

So there.  Six things constitutes a list, right?  Add yours to the list if you like!