The Good Wife's Guide
An Extract from a 13 May 1955 'Housekeeping Monthly' Article
- Have dinner ready, Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return.
This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal (especially his favourite dish) is part of the warm welcome needed.
- Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you’ll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
- Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
- Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before
your husband arrives.
- Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper etc. and then run a dustcloth over the tables.
- Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
- Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces (if they are small), comb their hair and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimise all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
- Be happy to see him.
- Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
- Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
- Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.
- Your goal: Try to make sure your home is a place of peace, order and tranquility where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.
- Don’t greet him with complaints and problems.
- Don’t complain if he’s late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.
- Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or have him lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
- Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
- Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness.
You have no right to question
him.
- A good wife always knows her place.
QuotaBillsI am an optimistic lady. - Julie Andrews
Grace: nutrient in the marriage garden - Phil Callaway
The lady doth protest too much, methinks. - William Shakespeare
Home cooking. Where many a man thinks his wife is. - Jimmy Durante
He that waits upon fortune is never sure of a dinner. - Benjamin Franklin
I give unto my wife my second best bed, with the furniture. - William Shakespeare
Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows - marriage does. - Groucho Marx
Before you marry keep both eyes open; after marriage shut one. - Jamaican Proverb
My wife is a sex object. Every time I ask for sex, she objects. - Les Dawson
In my house I'm the boss. My wife is just the decision maker. - Woody Allen
Extravagance: Anything you buy that is of no earthly use to your wife - Daffynitions joe-ks.com
My metabolism stinks. I can gain weight just listening to dinner music. - Ron Dentinger
When a man brings his wife flowers for no reason, there's a reason. - Molly McGee
My wife's an earth sign. I'm a water sign. Together we make mud. - Henny Youngman
I believe in love and marriage, but not necessarily with the same person. - John Travolta
Marriage is too interesting an experiment to be tried only once or twice. - Eva Gabor
The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well. - William Osler
Oh my God! Space aliens! Don't eat me! I have a wife and kids. Eat them! - Homer Simpson
Rising to the occasion is a myth. We operate at the level of our preparation. - Willie George
How marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive. - Oscar Wilde
The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse. - Jacqueline Kennedy
Ketchup left overnight on dinner plates has a longer half-life than radioactive waste. - Wes Smith
A girl who thinks that a man will treat her better after marriage than before is a fool. - William C. Hall
My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don't think about it, I just have it. - Arnold Schwarzenegger
We seldom give each other advice - I think that's the success of 25 years of marriage. - Laura Bush
My wife hasn't had a birthday in 4 years. She was born in the year of our Lord-only-knows. - Unknown
I'm not a real movie star. I've still got the same wife I started out with 28 years ago. - Will Rogers
Don't forget Mother's Day. Or as they call it in Beverly Hills, Dad's Third Wife Day. - Jay Leno
The one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties. - Oscar Wilde
Wit is the sudden marriage of ideas which before their union were not perceived to have any relation. - Mark Twain
Model Wife: One who, when she spades the garden, picks up the fish worms and saves them for her husband - Daffynitions joe-ks.com
When discovered by his wife, kissing the maid, Groucho said, "I was just whispering in her mouth". - Groucho Marx
A wise man will never tell his wife to keep quiet. He will tell her she looks beautiful with her mouth closed. - Unknown
Marriage always demands the greatest understanding of the art of insincerity possible between two human beings. - Vicki Baum
Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside desperate to get out. - Ogden Nash
Marriage is like a beleaguered fortress: those who are outside want to get in, and those inside want to get out. - French Proverb
I haven't reported my missing credit card to the police because whoever stole it is spending less than my wife. - Ilie Nastase
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man. - Lana Turner
My wife and I tried two or three times in the last 40 years to have breakfast together, but it was so disagreeable we had to stop. - Winston Churchill
One disadvantage of being a hog is that at any moment some blundering fool may try to make a silk purse out of your wife's ear. - J.B. Morton