First thing--I never told John to refinish the table himself. Indeed, I was going to take it to one of those places that dip it in left over waste from the Gaseous Diffusion Plants around here, and give you a stripped down table to work with. John volunteered for this duty and indeed the other night when I went down and he was in his bug mask sanding, I again said--you know we could take it and get it stripped. But he declined once again. So I personally have no pity for him.

I did indeed take Cookie with me to pick out the Kindergarten teachers gifts. I didnt really expect him to do much but he he was quite the avid little shopper. We walked in and were greeted by the sales girl asking if she could help us. I explained we were buying gifts for Cookies teachers. She then asked the price range to which Cookie replied, Probably between 10-15 dollars. She then pointed to a sales rack and said there might be something there. Cookie went over and began inspecting the various items. He decided on two address books. The motif was of shoes. He then informed me that that did not complete the gift and picked out a votive candle and little holder for it. He also selected a gift bag with butterflies on it. We go to check out and the sales girl is like, You are quite the little shopper. She then gives him free candy from the expensive candy case. She is then ringing up the candle and says to Cookie, O this is one of my favorite scents. To which Cookie replied, Yes, it does smell quite good. It was all ridiculous. When I wrote out the teachers' cards, I did make a point of saying that the gifts had been hand picked by Cookie. (I certainly didnt want to take credit for such awesome choices).