That was the punch line and joke, all in one.

Just give up now while you are ahead.

"Practical solutions" apparently isn't a part of her vocabulary.

Good advice Lil. "Yes Ma'am" it is.

"Yes, Dear" might be seen as slightly less confrontational...just sayin'

Agreed

now how is he going to get her to say that?

Can you make her think it was her idea?

Has she used any of the buzz words to look for, like OK, or "fine", or do whatever you think is right....something like that?

Man, are you in trouble!

Ha ha ha aha ha aha haha!!!! Good luck with that!

Where might we send a copy of this thread to MRS.Paperman?

I'm pretty sure "whatever you think" was said.

Mrs. Paperman has grandiose dreams of land, a chef's kitchen, and a five minute commute to work in a suburb. By the way, land gets more expensive the closer you get to town.

Apparently she thinks that can also be accomplished by quitting her job and being a stay at home Mom.

Mr. Paperman, unfortunately, doesn't have pockets that deep.

Times have changed. You have to work to help support the household, assuming you want all of these things. And you can't find a new expense every time I get a raise.

So, yes, I am up a creek. Hopes and dreams and sunshine and rainbows.

I hope that means that reality will soon settle in and all will be well in Papermanville again.

Either that or see if the Property Brothers can visit and make all your dreams come true.

Has your wife been talking to my wife? If she spent as much time at work as on realtor.com we may be able to buy what she wants

Maybe she talked with my wife first? My last raise ended up with a bigger house. Granted it was much needed since we were out of room but then there is new furniture, new bedroom set, new bathroom decor, etc.

My wife does only work part time as a substitute teacher and I am glad because she gets to be at home with our little one.

Mine is on the remodel though process. Due to the down turn the has is not worth what we paid for it so we may as well sink more money that we do not have into it so we can have a greater loss.

She tells me that she doesn't want all of this stuff in life, that she just wants to spend time with the kid.

Well, you can spend time with the kid, but you are going to have to work too.

Then, last night... "Hey, honey, I found you a Suburban.".

DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THE CONVERSATION WE JUST HAD TODAY!?

It's tough being a good husband that wants to provide. I wish I was one of those guys who just didn't care. No ambition, no critical thinking skills.

Honest question. When is the last time you saw a dumb person get stressed? They don't get anxious or stressed.

Like me! I'm happier than a pig in s...
Ummm....I'm happy!!

I tell my wife that everytime she looks at property ahead of the pre-set plan then I get to go test drive new trucks. Each test drive buys me a couple of weeks of her not bugging me about it.

The last time we moved, in 2009, was so I could be closer to work. We were also supposed to "downsize" since we're empty nesters. We failed. She just could not find a smaller home that had the features of the house we were leaving. So we upsized. I think I now have her convinced that we need to downsize in a few years, maybe a nice condo or something, but then the sun pours in the windows, and she says " I love my home." Maybe I should just tape copies of the real estate tax bill around the house.

Norm, we're on the same page for sure. Sounds like our wives would get along quite well.

Last night I got home around 6, ate a quick dinner, and headed to the yard to mow and do chores. Came back in around 7:30 and she hadn't moved from the couch where she was reading her book. Grabbed the dog, headed out for his walk. Got home 45 mins later, she was just putting down her book and getting ready to head to bed. Looked at me and said "We should spend more time together, I feel like I never see you." I (foolishly and impulsively) said "Well, you're always welcome to join me for fun yard work, or walking the dog, or do one while I do the other so we can get done faster!". She didn't appreciate my tone.

Finances are right up there in the top things that can ruin a marriage. You guys are bankers. Bet you pay all the bills too. You'd be surprised how many couples have one person who gets it and another who hasn't a clue. Have you sat down with your wife and showed her all the bills vs the income? Don't just spew numbers. Show them on paper. Having watched both my mom and my sister-in-law have to learn the hard way after my dad and brother passed away, I've made sure my spouse has a better idea of how the household budget works, shown him the passwords in KeePass, etc.

He'll tell you he always has known. But that's from the guy who sat down after getting paid, wrote checks for everything, and then gleefully proclaimed 'Look! I paid all the bills!' To which I replied, 'Look! We've no gas or food money for the next two weeks!'

Yes, I do pay all the bills but my wife could do it if she had to. She just chooses not to do it. After I pay all the bills she will ask how much in our account. I will tell her X dollars but we STILL have gas and groceries!

What is a pre-set plan? Planning is so overrated. Just blindly pull the trigger and hope for the best.

It's fine. Just needed to vent a little. The one thing my wife doesn't quite get, she thinks I'm crazy, is that every time she points out a new house, car, or acreage, it starts me down the path of trying to figure out how to swing it.

I want my family to have the best. When you point out a new dream, it puts pressure on me to try and figure out how to accomplish it.

All good in Paperville.

I agree with you Norman, my mind always goes to how are we going to swing this transaction and what impact will it have on our budget.

When we were house shopping, we both found a house we LOVED. You could call it our dream home but it was $20k over the budget I had planned for. I spent hours working on how we could swing it. We could have but it would have put more strain than I felt comfortable with.

And you guys bug me about being engaged. Who needs this [censored]! ??

Ha! Stay single DeeQ. Just look at Willard Scott, he just got married at 80.

To add, if you are a cynical spouse, STOP IT. No one wants to come home to someone who has a dim and negative outlook on life. Find something to be happy about. Or at least learn to fake it.