What Is It With Wives And Our Hobby!?!?

[lordairgtar]

When I met my lady, and things got serious, I told her about what I do for a hobby and that I have done it for a long time. I figured better to be up front instead of being sneaky. I said I won't be giving up what I enjoy and I won't deny her the things she enjoys. We've been together for over eight years and she supports me in the hobby. She will go to the model swap meets and the model club meetings and the car shows as well. She even will spot kits at rummage sales and swaps and buy them for me. How cool is that? My advice for finding the perfect woman is not just someone you can be in love with, but someone who you can LIKE as well. That goes a long way to creating the perfect relationship. I have seen a lot of people who are "in love" but can't get along very well.

[Modlguy]

My wife has supported me in the hobby, in the Tri-State club and NNL East, and in my support of the Model Builder's Museum. By the same token I support her work with Greyhound Rescue. We don't mix our hobbies, but we do plenty of other things together as a family. I think Lyle is right that as you get a little older you find a little more tolerance and enjoyment in each other's endeavors.

[Clay]

Actually I am surprised I have gotten as much 'done' as I have, with a 15 month old and all. I get most of my work done at work. My wife's dad is the same way, I could build a diorama with as many cars he has in his back yard, and I think she is grateful that mine hobby is smaller as well.

Ok, I think Clay left this up on purpose because he knows i like to read and look at the pics on here. I try to be as supportive as possible because I know that what he does for a living is very stressful and this is his form of letting it all go and escaping. I do get frustrated with it at times but thats mainly when I have had a bad day dealing with a cranky toddler and would like a little help around the house. And Clay is also correct in saying that I am glad he does not have the obsession with real cars that my dad does, but that would also be kinda hard since we move every couple of years and the military will only pay to move vehicles we can drive.

by the way this is Andrea, Clays wife

Edited February 15, 2008 by jones_clayton

[Smart-Resins]

I am stuck. She thinks I spend too much on my hobby, though I really dont spend that much, maybe 2-300 a year. She also complains that I spend too much time on my models/computer. Yet when I decide to not work on them and want to spend time with her after her complaining, she first asks what is wrong with me, am I sick. Then she after a short time tells me to go to my room, or tells me she is to busy why dont I go do what I want to, wich is go to my room. She has no hobbies of her own and sometimes thinks mine is a waste. But at other times she is soo happy that I have it as to keep me out of her hair. She is very supportive about me getting my children into it and she also is doing her first model and swapping parts and customizing it. So she is split I quess, between hating it and liking it?!

[Olle F]

I keep telling her... 'Would you rather that I spend the money at the bar???'

I have several hobbies, so that's what I tell my wife too. It's kind of a family joke, but really and truly: If you look at what the most popular male "hobby" is in our neck of the woods, you'll see that it's actually not as dumb as it may sound. So she's more than happy with having me in the basement, building a model, tinkering with the Chevelle or cleaning a gun. I could definitely be doing something worse than that.

[VW Dave]

Hey Dave, is this your wife's Mini Cooper? (taken at the '06 NNL East)

Indeed it is hers, Randy, and she says thanks. Ever since her trip to England in '03, she's had a real jones for an original Mini. I taught her to use flocking, BMF and the (then) brandy-new Tamiya sprays on that build; she proved a very apt pupil, and we're looking forward to her next microcar build(she's got a Fiat 500, Citroen 2CV and an Isetta waiting in the bull pen).

[thomas LB808 Labanon]

My wife Cathy, of 9yrs (couple for 15) Will be 31 next month. Has always been sopporting all of my hobbies. I build models cars ( atleast i like to call it building models) and I collect diecast cars, Plus I play PAINTBALL, bodyboard,roller hockey. So all in all it can get pretty expensive for me. Plus getting everything shipped here (kauai,hawaii) can be a problem. So a couple of years ago, we came to an aggrement.Since I don't smoke,drink, or do drugs. She won't get upset with what i spend as long as I do it with my own expense money. Wich is about $30-40 a week (this encludes eating and gas). The rest of the check goes to family expenses. So how do i do it. I consider my hobbies my side business. I'm always dealing over the internet. Either buying or selling. So at the moment I have over 3000 kits, over 7000 diecast ralated cars, about $3000 worth of paintball gear several bodyboards and enough hockey gear for two people. We have two children (7yr & 3yr) who where both born with medical conditions, we love them alot. Beleive it or not with all my hobbies I still spend more time with my family. Infact my son Kaya (7yr) likes to help paint cars (he's a pretty good artist too). And my daughter Karli (3yr) Loves opening hotwheels. So even though at the moment i'm UNEMPLOYED. This past month has been the greatest for me ever. More time withe family and my hobbies.

Da family

Shot with Photosmart M425 at 2008-02-16

Da diecast ( some of it)

Shot with Photosmart M425 at 2008-02-16

Da models (part of it)

Shot with Photosmart M425 at 2007-05-24

Edited February 16, 2008 by Thomas Labanon aka LB808

[Maliburacr]

I can't complain at all, my wife definatly knew what she was getting into long before we married. Our third date was to the NNL , Tim Boyd wanted to do an article on one of my builds and she thought that was way cool.

Now 20 ? years later she attends club meetings, shows, and even helps me at "our" vendor table when we set up. If she isn't with me I'm always asked where Ginger is. She's always checking on my latest builds and I almost always run the color choices by her first.

Guess you need to ask your wife for some beer money so you can go to the local strip club, then she might change her mind about you staying home building models. LOL.

[Maliburacr]

Hey Thomas, good lookin family, but some how the two words "hockey" and "Hawaii" doesn't go together.

Kinda like useing Bikini and Alaska in the same sentence.

[Cornpatch]

Well after reading this thread completely thru word by word, it seems that there are a lot more good wifes than there are bad. The way the thread started out it didn't seem it was going to be that way.

It looks like a lot of the guys on this forum, including me, have good marriages and are proud of there wifes and familys.

I guess the old saying is true in a lot of these cases --- Behind every man is a ###### good women and behind every ###### good women is a good man.

As all the guys with good wifes know it takes a lot of work and a lot of give and take on both sides to have a good marriage. And it sounds like a lot of guys have figured that out.

My 2 cents worth--- Now back to the basement and model building. Got to go anyway as she wants this computer machine.

Jeff

[cruzn]

My Lady Sandi is supportive of My Hobby. she tells me to finish One !!!!! Please!!!!

She always Knows where to find me when shopping.. toy Model Aisle.

She helps out at the shows I co-ordinate, and sometimes goes with me to others.

There she is telling me to go finish something, But its not a Model...LOL.

[thomas LB808 Labanon]

Hey Thomas, good lookin family, but some how the two words "hockey" and "Hawaii" doesn't go together.

Kinda like useing Bikini and Alaska in the same sentence.

LOL, kinda like SURFING in arizona. Nah, I kinda got into roller hockey about 10yrs ago when my little bro started playing. Got hooked. Became a big hockey fan. I'm a Blackhawks fan and my wife is a Ducks fan. Some day when the kids get older we gottah do a game between the two.

[Ron L]

Da family

Does she know you posted her age? You're in big trouble, now!

[thomas LB808 Labanon]

Does she know you posted her age? You're in big trouble, now!

LOL, she's allready bitchen about it. LOL all in good fun though.

[BIGTRUCK]

The first 1,000 kits are the hardest, after that the more you buy kinda blend in..my wife goes to swap meets and shows , but we get in a few days early and do and see what she wants to do....this year we plan on trying to go to the NNL East for the first time and Toledo again.....heres a pic from our visit to Hobby Heaven with Tom Carter......

[MojaveRacer208]

LOL, she's allready bitchen about it. LOL all in good fun though.

I don't think she needs to worry about you tellin' how young she is Thomas. Many of us have wives who lie that they are nearly as young as your wife actually is!

My wife Pat has been fairly supportive of my hobbies through our 25 years of marriage. My hobbies include involvement in 1:1 scale motorsports as well as models. On our second date, she looked at the photos in my wallet. The front picture I explained as being my "1st wife". It showed not a woman, but my off road race buggy. I told her then of my passion for motorsports and that while she may some day drag me away from motorsports, she could never take motorsports out of me, and if our relationship was going any further, she would have to accept this. Later that year, she offered cash to pay to repair my broken race car. I was beginning to suspect she was a keeper. The year after we married, I won a championship with her in the pits helping out.

I got my wife started on making porcelain dolls so she would have her own hobby. She took that to several ribbons in competitions, including a Blue Ribbon at the LA County Fair, and the pleasure of seeing a young girl tell her mom to get that poor real baby out of the display case with the dolls (pointing at my wife's doll)! While I have around 1,200 unbuilt model car kits, they cost around $10 each. My wife has quite a few unpainted and unfired porcelain dolls ("greenware") which cost from $100 to $400 each.

I haven't raced my own car for many years now, though I have raced recently in someone else's Baja this past year. I have made a living on and off for the last 22 years building race cars and Hot Rods for others. I also attend many race events each year of a few different types. At off road races I sometimes work as an official, for which I get paid. Building model cars has also paid me wages before and gotten me jobs in the plastics industry including at Mattel. I recently consulted for the developers of a model kit (non-car) which will soon hit distribution. So my hobbies have also been my career.

Pat doesn't attend as many events as she used to, but she still goes sometimes. There have been times she has told me to get rid of the models I "don't do anything with", but I remind her of her inventory...and such noises quiet down...She has half the hobby room anyway, and stuff all over the living room and dining room as well, which are areas my activities never venture into. Her overflow occupies substantial space in the garage as well, and these days, the poor "1st Wife" lives outdoors under a cover.

All in all...I'm keepin her.

[v8horsepowercj]

Well guys I must say that I found a good wife as well. From the time we first met each other she knew how involved I was with building model cars and it's never been an issue at all. I expressed to her in our second year of marriage that she should get a hobby as well, she tried scrapbooking for awhile but she finally settled on stamping and making cards. Now we have our guest room completly filled with our hobby items I have my modeling desk and shelves along with models stacked from the floor to the roof and she now has her stamping desk filing drawers and various papers ,cutters etc that she needs to do her hobby. Now when we work on our respective hobbies we get to do it together sitting at our own seperate desk a few feet from each other. She ask for my input alot of times on colors etc. And I ask for her input on some of my builds. In the end we get to do something we both enjoy doing and neither of us feels like they are being ignored. Coming up in a few months will be our 10th anniversary My wife was 22 when we got married and I was 28 and shes always been supportive of my hobbies (I was also an avid drag racer years ago but not so much anymore I just don't have the time for it but when I did race she was supportive of that as well) So I'm glad I got a good one to, the only thing it cost me from her getting a hobby was some floor space and shelf room but that's more than a fair trade for having a happy wife.

Chris

[Joe Nunes]

I too am glad to read about wives being supportive in hobby issues, and vise versa. My bride of 39 years (this coming May) has always been with me on my hobby ventures, be it plastic, R/C planes, or ship models. There have been earlier times when money was tight but she would always let me enjoy at least one model to build. Now that times are a bit easier she goes with me to the hobby shop and sometimes even picks out a model or two for me to "adopt" and take home. Last year, while driving down to Alabama to visit for a week with our daughter, we drove past the site of the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) Museum. When I mentioned stopping in to take a look at the models she didn't hesitate and we both had a great time. It's all in sharing as has been stated above. I go with her to her areas of interest without hesitation. Why be married as a couple if you cannot share in your mates interests and accomplishments? I often wonder with all the world strife and trouble in the world today why a woman, or man, would complain about a spouses hobby (unless it gets prohibitively out of hand or the funds just aren't there) that would bring that spouse some enjoyment in life.

Edited February 22, 2008 by rhoadapple