Get ready to look away from gushy mushiness.

So as I’m sure you all know by now, I’m married to a pretty spectacular guy.  His name is Dax.  He is honestly the best person I’ve ever met.  He will bend over backward to help out the people closest to him, go out of his way to make things right, and encourages you to just be the best you that you can become.  I met him when I was the ripe age of 19, and he set me on a track of taking up for myself (which I would have never done, ever) and stop being such a pushover (he may have gone overboard on that one), setting goals, stop burning through money like nobody’s business, thinking further ahead than one day at a time, and basically giving me confidence in myself and whatever I wanted to do.  What I want to do right now is make his birthday this year super sweet.  Because he’s turning 40.

Now, Dax is just like most guys, he doesn’t give a flying leap about his birthday.  “It’s just another day, ” he says, every year.  Well, I’m not having it.  Nope.  I knew I wanted to do something special since I just went over a milestone birthday, and he is hitting one this year as well.

While I was watching GT: Live (which, is the live stream channel from Game Theorists, my favorite nerdy video game YouTube channel) MatPat mentioned doing a 14 day Valentine’s day thing for his wife, Stefanie.  That was all that I needed.  I knew I wanted to do something just as awesome!  To be perfectly  honest, I’m pretty sure Dax is going to be tired of this after the first day.  I’m going to just keep doing it.  The thought has gone on in my head long enough.

This post is going to document the process and will go up when I’ve given him his final gift.  Today is July 13th, and so far I’ve reached out to just a couple of people to help me out in this process.  I’ve got a couple of little ideas for gifts, but come on this is 40 little gifts!  I can’t do this all on my own!  Well, I could…but I’m not going to do that to myself.

Day One: An introduction Card

Today I’m giving Dax a card, to let him know how very special he really is to me and so many people, and I’m letting him know what is about to happen for the next month and (almost) a half.

Day Two: Meatloaf Dinner

Today’s gift is meatloaf dinner.  The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, right?  Well, one of Dax’s favorite foods is meatloaf, so I’m making him a meatloaf dinner!

Day Three: Foot rub

Today I’m rubbing Dax’s feet, something he probably wishes I did every single day.  He walks a lot at work, and their floor is concrete, so his feet hurt more often than not.

 

 

Day Four: Coffee Cup Gift

Dax and I love coffee; we probably drink a little more than we should sometimes, but it’s just so good.  Today I’m giving him one of those infamous Sharpie coffee mugs.

Day Five: Chalkboard Note

We have a little chalkboard that hangs in our garage, and I typically just write a little motivational thing on there when I get so inspired to do so.  I’m writing a sweet little note today!

Day Six: Gum Gift

I’ve seen tons of these little gifts on Pinterest, where you make a pack of gum into some sweet little saying or something.  I intended to do that, but I just gave him a big thing of gum.  Dax’s favorite gum is Juicy Fruit. ❤

Day Seven: Banana Pudding

What am I giving Dax for his birthday?  Fat.  I’m giving him fat. HAH!  I am making him banana pudding today, because, he loves it so much!!!

Day Eight: Star Jar

I’m writing little notes on strips of paper and folding them into puff stars.  Here’s a link to how I’m making them.  They’re really fun to make, and I’m filling a little jar full of little stars with a note in the middle.

 

Day Nine: Puzzle

I ordered a puzzle from Shutterfly using pictures of the two of us over the years.  I’m giving him this gift today because it’s our 6th wedding anniversary.

Day Ten: Silly Card

I’m the first to admit that I’m kind of a goofball.  It just makes this crazy world we live in a little easier to deal with when you don’t take every single thing so seriously.  So today, I’m giving Dax a silly card.

Day Eleven: Mom gift

Dax’s mom Kathy is also helping me out, and today is giving him a “manly scented candle for his man cave”.  Because that’s what moms do! ❤

Day Twelve: M&Ms Gift

Dax loves M&Ms, so I’m giving him a jar of M&M’s that says Much love & Many thanks!

Day Thirteen: Brian Gift

When I asked if he wanted to pitch in, Brian did not fail to produce.  He’s sent Dax a motion detection toilet “night light” which, is hilarious.

Day Fourteen: Terrarium 

I’ve given Dax a plan for his office before, and that poor little thing died.  So, I’m giving him a fail proof small terrarium for his office.

Day Fifteen: Nephew Gifts

We have the cutest two little nephews via Dax’s sister, and they LOVE their uncle Dax!  Today they’re giving him some sweet handmade cards!

Day Sixteen: Chocolate Pudding

Oh man, more pudding?!  What can I say, Dax likes food!  🙂  This is the recipe I used, and it’s so great.  Never again, Jell-o.

Day Seventeen: Desk Calendar

I wanted to give Dax a daily desk calendar with little sayings to get him through each day and keep his spirits up.

Day Eighteen: Water Bottle

Dax really likes metal water bottles, so I’m getting him a black matte finished water bottle!  Because after all the junk food I’ve been feeding him, he needs to balance it all out with a lot of water.

Day Nineteen: Sweet Card

Today I’m going for the mush factor and giving Dax a sweet card.

Day Twenty: Toothpick Dispenser Bird *Half way point!*

There is a cute Japanese restaurant in Pleasant View, and they have a toothpick dispenser bird at their front desk that Dax freaks out over every time he sees it.  He always takes a toothpick when we leave a restaurant, and this is his favorite dispenser by far.  So, I found it, and now he can have his own bird!

Day Twenty One: Bearwalker Growler

Dax found a local brewery, Jackalope, that has a beer called Bearwalker.  I personally don’t like it, but I don’t like dark beers.  Since you can’t get this in any other form, I’m getting him a new growler full.

 

 

Day Twenty Two: Mom Gift 2

Dax’s mom has helped out with some much-needed clothing items!

Day Twenty Three: Bearwalker Soap

When I was looking up Dax’s beer, I found that a local soap maker makes a soap inspired by the beer!  So, I obviously had to get him a bar.

Day Twenty Four: Quote Gift

I made Dax a cross stitch for his office with a quote that he often tells students.  He’s asked for another one so I’ve gotten my sister to make him one with a new quote that he also loves.

Day Twenty Five: Chips Gift

Dax’s favorite chips are Golden Flake Sweet heat BBQ chips, so I’m giving him a bag for his birthday.  More food, yep.  Just stuffing him full of junk!  LOVE JUNK!

Day Twenty  Six: Gift from Al

There are a few moments during the day that only I see, and they’re the sweet times shared between Dax and our dog, Al.  Al is giving Dax a sweet card as well as a couple of framed pictures.

Day Twenty Seven: Mom gift 3

Because moms really are the best at getting their kids what they need! 😉

Day Twenty Eight: Lip Balm Gift

Dax really likes a good lip balm, and he especially loves Burts Bees!  So I’m giving him a new tube today!

Day Twenty Nine:  Reese’s Pieces gift

Once again, ruining him one gift at a time!!!  But Reece’s Pieces are one of his favorite candies, so I can’t resist!

Day Thirty: Nephew gift 2

Our sweet nephews had some help from their awesome parents to make some REALLY cool handmade coffee cup and cereal bowl!!!

Day Thirty One: 52 Reasons

Thanks to Melinda for this great idea, I’m giving Dax a book of cards with 52 reasons that I love him so much made with a little notebook and a deck of cards. 🙂

Day Thirty Two: Peanut Gift

Today I’m letting Dax know that I’m nuts about him!  Yep, said it.  The corny levels have reached all-time highs.

Day Thirty-Three: Hand Sanitizer Dinosaurs

Since I don’t want Dax to go extinct like his favorite things, dinosaurs, I’m giving him this sweet dino-styled hand sanitizer.

Day Thirty-Four: Cookies

This seems like it’s too easy of a gift, but I’m making Dax some chocolate chip cookies.  Why?  Because he loves when I do! 😀

 Day Thirty-Five: Breaking Bad T-shirt

We really loved watching Breaking Bad.  It was the whole reason we even got a Netflix subscription.  Today’s gift is a t-shirt from the show!

Day Thirty-Six: Mom Gift 4

I’m so thankful that Dax’s mom has given so many things for this overboard gifting extravaganza!

 Day Thirty-Seven:  Breakfast Cookies

Dax usually rushes off to work without much breakfast, so I’m making him a batch of breakfast cookies that he can take with him to work!  This is the recipe I used, my mix in was pecans, and I think they were actually pretty good!

Day Thirty-Eight: Chicken & Dumplings

I know, I just made dinner a lot and said “this is your gift today!” but honestly, it is probably the best gift I can give some days.  Nothing is worse than a hangry Dax.  NOTHING.  This is the recipe I used, and it’s fantastic.

Day Thirty-Nine: Family Dinner

Dax will give in and go out for a birthday dinner.  Since that’s what adults do, dinners for birthdays. 😉

Day Forty: Star Wars Quilt

So, this was a big deal.  I started on this, had to put it off, and picked it back up, and it took a while to get going.  Dax even saw part of it and was like what is that?  “That doesn’t look like a Death Star.”

Well JOKE’S ON YOU!  😛

I found all of these paper piecing patterns for different Star Wars things on Quiet Play’s Craftsy site.  They’re really great, especially if you love paper piecing.  I put them together in a cool way to make this quilt for Dax’s man cave.

 

Here are some of my Works in Progress pictures.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Dax, like me, loves Star Wars.  Why?  Because we’re red-blooded Americans!  Actually, it’s just really great, and everyone should love it.  Take note, the only people who don’t love it haven’t seen it.  When we had been dating only a year or so I told Dax I’d seen 1 2 3 so many times I couldn’t remember 4 5 6 very well, so he made us have 3 day movie night event and watched them…let’s just say I cried a lot at the end of 6.  Just typing this now makes my eyes water.  I cried harder over this scene than over any other movie I’ve ever seen.  Even the NOTEBOOK!  Now we’ve gone and seen Episode 7 together, and we’re just going to keep watching them as long as they’ll make them.  Which…thanks to Disney will be forever.  And, before anyone says anything, I know that Boba Fett doesn’t belong on this quilt.  I just love him so I added him in there.

I didn’t complete the quilt on time, but I did finish the top and let Dax help me plan out the back, and he really loves it. 🙂

This project has taken a lot of effort to put together, but it’s been a lot of fun.  It’s rewarding letting someone know how much they mean to you, just by some chance they may not know.  I also wanted to give a HUGE thanks to everyone who’s helped me put this all together.  He absolutely loved the whole thing.