Cassie Bustamante

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Gifts for 40 Year Old Man

September 20, 2016 by Cassie 14 Comments

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Last week we had a monumental birthday around here; my husband, Chris, turned the big 4-0. (It’s also our 13th anniversary today, so we are in full on celebration mode in our house.) He’s usually a pretty challenging person to shop for, and year after year I struggle with what to get him.  And I shouldn’t complain about that, because the reason he’s such a challenge to shop for is that there’s never anything he wants.  He epitomizes the word contentment.  He’s a wonderful husband and father and makes sure that we have everything we need, while making us laugh. On the days when he comes home from work, and I’ve managed to accomplish nothing and am still in my pajamas (it happens!), he doesn’t judge… he accepts me for every messy part that makes the whole.  And for all those reasons, I always want to find him something special, but struggle.  So today I thought I’d share with you how we celebrated at our house, and the gifts we gave, and possibly help you who might also be grappling with gifts for the 40 year old man in your life.smugmug13Pin

Disclaimer: This photo is not technically a 40 year old man as it’s two years old… but he looks the same today!

Even though this amazing man accepts me and loves me for who I am, that isn’t to say I don’t do some things that just drive him absolutely crazy.  Let’s take “tool care,” or perhaps I should say lack thereof, for example.  I am a MESS when it comes to the garage and basement where I work…. paint cans all over with lids not sealed on, screwdrivers here and there; a hammer? Well, who knows where that may have landed.  As we worked together on our chicken coop this past year, I heard lots of squawking (pun intended!) about how screwdrivers were hard to find and that the ones we did have were terrible and he wished they were magnetic.  Well, that gave me an idea!  I gave Chris this magnetic Stanley screwdriver set.
PinNow he has one of his own that I will not touch.  Or try not to.  And come on, when you give your husband a set of screwdriver’s for his birthday, there are just so many jokes you can make to go along with it.
Thanks to my friend Jennifer, our family was introduced to the best and easiest pizza dough recipe.  We now make homemade pizza and calzones all the time, and Chris loves to create his own pizza once I roll it all out for him.  We had talked about how great it would be if we had a pizza stone as we were always flipping over a baking pan and baking it on foil on that.  I found this rectangular pizza stone and thought it was perfect.  It can fit two small pizzas next to one another, or a few calzones, which is perfect for our family.  This pizza stone made such a difference… the crust is now crispier on the outside, airier on the inside, and even more delicious!

Pin

I also wrote Chris a pretty sentimental card and let him know I had planned a winery outing for us.  Unfortunately those plans were foiled by weather and a sick kiddo, so we’ll be rescheduling soon!

Chris had to travel last week and when he returned it was late work nights, so we celebrated officially as a family Saturday night and I was excited to create a meal of his favorites, so I thought I’d share some link love here… after all, we all know the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right?  I mean, it’s honestly the way to mine, too.

For dinner we each had our own grilled meat, because we all like different things…. Chris had steak, I had ahi tuna, and the kids had chicken. 🙂  I made green beans and an upside down tomato corn cake I had seen on The Kitchn.  Thanks to my parents, we had an abundance of cherry tomatoes, so it was the perfect use for them.  Mine didn’t look quite like theirs, but it tasted great!  I think next time though I would add some herbs or seasoning.upside-down-tomato-cakePin

(Clearly not the photo of mine. 😉 )

For dessert, Chris had requested a lemon cake, and we found this recipe which looked totally doable for me.  The recipe itself is for one layer of the cake, and I decided that one layer was all this family needed as it has a boatload of butter in it.  And the frosting has even more butter and loads of sugar. However, it was delicious!!!  And this time, mine turned out well enough for me to share a photo of my version.lemon-cakePinWe put 4 candles on the cake, each one representing 10 years, and sang to Chris.blowing-out-candlesPin

Then we all dug in!  And let me tell you, this cake truly tasted wonderful.  Sawyer doesn’t typically like cake nor does he ever try new things.  I thought the word “lemon” would scare him away, but he tried and proceeded to inhale his piece and rave about it.  And he’s pretty much always shirtless, so just accept it.enoying-lemon-cakePinAnd there you have it!  That is how we give to and celebrate a 40 year old man in our house!  Happy birthday, Chris!smugmug12Pin

This and the photo of Chris by Jalapeno photography

And happy anniversary as well!  I am looking forward to celebrating many more anniversaries and every birthday you have for the rest of our lives!  I love you so much and will try not to touch your screwdrivers, and if I do, I will try to put them back.  That’s how much I care.

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Comments

  1. Sarah Dorsey says

    September 20, 2016 at 7:18 am

    Happy birthday Chris!!! Lemon cake is my favorite too!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 22, 2016 at 4:09 pm

      this recipe was delicious!

      Reply
  2. Shelley | Crazy Wonderful says

    September 20, 2016 at 8:48 am

    Happy Birthday Chris!!!! Looks like it was an awesome birthday! Great gift ideas too. They are so hard to buy for!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 22, 2016 at 4:09 pm

      yes they are!!!!

      Reply
  3. [email protected] says

    September 20, 2016 at 10:18 am

    So sweet! My husband is one of those that’s extremely hard to buy for as well. Gotta love them.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 22, 2016 at 4:08 pm

      they are great guys but that makes them hard to shop for!

      Reply
  4. Jessica says

    September 20, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    So sweet! And I’m so relieved to know that other couples “discuss” screwdrivers and screwdriver care. Lol! Hope y’all have a great day.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 22, 2016 at 4:07 pm

      haha! yes it’s a civil discussion.

      Reply
  5. [email protected] says

    September 20, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    How awesome that he is so content. That upside-down tomato corn cake looks amazing.

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 22, 2016 at 4:04 pm

      he’s a good guy! and that cake was good. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Jess says

    September 20, 2016 at 5:27 pm

    That lemon cake sounds so good! You’ve definitely sold me on it!

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 22, 2016 at 4:00 pm

      oh my gosh it was SOOOOO good!

      Reply
  7. [email protected] says

    September 21, 2016 at 4:56 pm

    Happy birthday, Chris! magnetic screwdrivers–awesome! I wonder if that works as a present for 41 year olds, too, because I need to find something for Dave’s birthday next month 😉

    Reply
    • Cassie says

      September 22, 2016 at 3:42 pm

      haha! good luck! they are just so hard!

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Cassie!

I believe that you don't have to spend a lot of money to live a beautiful life and be your best self.  Here you will find budget friendly ideas to live happily, healthily, sustainably, and most importantly authentically.  We all get one chance at this life, and this ordinary girl plans to make hers extraordinary. How about you? Read more...
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Hi! I'm Cassie.

Mother, wife, shop owner, blogger, writer, incurable diy-er, furniture painter, coffee and wine drinker, friend. Seeking happiness and passing it on. Read More…

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