Things husband just doesn’t catch on to.

White Star champagne is not dry…it is a tad sweet. A tad too sweet for my taste. Every other year he finds an opportunity to buy White Star for an event or treat. One year he buys the wrong kind, next year he remembers and buys something brut, next year he forgets and up pops the White Star again. He sees Moet and thinks good champagne. That thought overrides the million times I’ve told him, “Please don’t buy White Star, it is too sweet.” He also thinks extra dry means brut which it doesn’t. I think we’ll have the White Star problem forever.

Cover food in the microwave. This is another often repeated request which now should cross the line into command. Dear husband insists on microwaving the cat and dog food as he’s sure it tastes better to them when it is warm. He also insists on not covering the dishes which sends cat or dog food particles popping out of the dish and splatting on the top and sides of the microwave. This entails a total microwave cleaning experience which makes the whole process of feeding the animals turn into an hour of scrubbing and disinfecting.

The printed part of the top sheet should be face down on the bottom sheet so when you turn it back the pretty part of the sheet is seen folded over the quilt. I am lucky he changes the bed sheets for me, but I don’t understand what’s so difficult about the above format for bed making? He cannot or will not place the sheet pretty side down – it is a small thing but consistent in our marriage for years.

The power of cinnamon. (Laurenbove could write a book on this one…) He buys spices from the Spice House catalog and they are hand ground and fresh. They are also super strong – much stronger than any cinnamon, for example, you could buy at the grocery store. He also likes cinnamon flavor a lot so he finds numerous ways to use it in his cooking and baking, like the cinnamon flavored chili he made last week. Oweee was it an interesting dish. Now he’s loading it in his bran muffins which I love minus the cinnamon and his French toast will burn all the way down into your stomach lining. Less is more when it comes to cinnamon.

Hot cross buns. This is another, every other year, seasonal problem. One year he buys them for me knowing I love them. I say I like the ones with the raisins but not the ones with the candied fruit in them. Next year I get the simple variety minus the parti-colored bitter fruit pieces. Next year after that, he forgets and back come the candied fruit hot cross buns. Etc. Etc.

Funny Valentine cards. I have told him hundreds of times that funny cards cost the same as romantic ones and I’d rather not get a card that shows the wife in curlers and bunny slippers with some comment about “loving me anyhow” on it. He will always opt for funny and I always give him one with a beautiful verse and a vase of roses, for example. Maybe next year we should buy our own cards.

I know, minor complaints, but I wonder why it is some things he cannot remember no matter how many times we discuss it. Is it a form of passive aggressiveness or is it just a busy guy who lets champagne, microwaving cat food, cinnamon, Valentine cards, bed making and hot cross buns fall though the cracks?