Gee, looks like you guys are a lot easier shop for than SWMBO. Cleaning supplies! Who knew?
This year my lovely and long suffering spouse was the recipient of two very nice quilts. I liked them the moment I saw them on Christmas Eve.
But there is a postscript. I decided to throw caution to the wind this year and I went out and bought my wife a real nice (I thought) blouse and sweater. Then I got scared. So I put them in a box in which I had previously received a present from my aunt, who my wife is very fond of. The post office address sticker was still on the box, so when she opened it she would assume the package was from my aunt. This is called "deniability." It was, I thought, a brilliant plan. If she hated the clothes (which I expected), my aunt took the heat. If she loved them then I get to jump up and say "Aha! They're from me!"
What could possibly go wrong?
The male mind is a curious thing. We cannot see the obvious, unless there are tools involved.
Ya see, when she opened the present she saw the stickers on the box and got all happy. She opened it and just LOVED the clothing. It was pretty nice. I was felling pretty good about myself. So I told her. I told her the clothes were from me. I told her about the charade with the box.
Bad, bad, bad idea. Cold stare. "You know YOU could never pick out anything this nice," my lovely and long suffering spouse fairly snarled. "Wait til I tell Muri (the aunt in question) what you tried to do."
So I had to "fess up" to trying to steal the credit and attempt to laugh it all off as a bad joke. Then I had to sneak out of the room and quickly call my aunt to tell her about "her" present before my wife had a chance to call and thank her.
I need to just stick to the system.
Patrick
