As Paul Harvey Used to Say - - -

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"Now here's the REST of the story!"
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The other day I showed you this kitchen footstool that my friend Eloise (pronounced E-Lois) gave me for Christmas.

One of my very wise and astute bloggy readers said, "There has to be MORE to that story" and of course there is.
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Once upon a hot summer's day a long time ago Eloise and I were browsing antique and other novelty shops in Hayward.  And by a long time ago, I of course mean July of this past summer.

I don't know for sure now which of us saw it first, but both of us spied the little blue and white kitchen stool.

I do know this for sure and for certain - - - by the time MY brain processed that little stool and by the time I realized EXACTLY where I wanted to put it in my kitchen and by the time I realized I not only WANTED it but that I actually had a NEED to use it to get into my top cupboards - - - Eloise was already thoroughly studying it with intent to purchase.

I'll tell you girls (and boys if any of the testosterone persuasion are reading this tale) that "thing" that some of us have which makes us loathe to purchase items that we like solely for the joy of owning them does cause us to miss out on some real deals sometimes.

While Eloise studied the stool contemplating purchasing it, I TRIED not to act too much like I wanted that little blue and white stool it myself - - - hovering a little ways away and feigning interest in I know not what 'cause I had ZERO interest in whatever item that may have been.

Sure enough, Eloise decided to buy the stool, she paid the asking price, we loaded it in the car, and away we went.
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From time to time over the rest of the summer months, into fall, and even into the Christmas season, I thought about that little blue and white stool and how USEFUL it would be to me and how well it would look in the spot I had chosen for it.

Sometime during that interval, I began to notice that the stool was conspicuously absent in Eloise's decor.

Hmmmmmm, thought I.   Where is that little blue and white stool?

These thoughts were followed closely by this one:  Could she have gotten that stool for MY Christmas present???

I will confess right here and now that once that thought seized me, I couldn't get away from it.  I would be dragging a chair to the cabinet so I could crawl up on it to put away groceries or dishes on the upper shelves in my kitchen and INVARIABLY I would think of the little blue and white stool and WISH that I had it.

Well - - - when Bill and Eloise came in our door on the night of our Christmas celebration carrying a LARGE object wrapped in a black trash bag and sporting a beautiful  red, gold, and green bow I was positive I was right.

When it finally came time to open our gifts, I even had the GALL to ASK if I could open my stool now.

WHAT STOOL???  said Eloise.

But I could tell by the shocked look on her face that I was exactly right.

And, of course, I was.

Oh but the "journey" made the gift all the better.
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