I spent the entirety of yesterday in front of the computer, working on Christmas shopping.
I love the idea of online shopping - but I always seem to idealize it in my mind. I forget that online stores run out of stock, or are designed poorly, or freeze up, etc. In my mind, online shopping should be easy-peasy-mac-and-cheesy every single time.
Suffice to say that when this is not the case, I get really frustrated.
Really, really frustrated.
Yesterday was one of those days.
Seemed like teh internets was just out to get me.
Everything was slow, I had a damn near impossible time finding THE ONE THING that Schecky asked for*, lots of things were out of stock, one website kept crashing my computer, blah blah blah, on and on...
You know the scene too well, 'cause sadly we've all been there.
I had to keep reminding myself that as frustrating as all that was: it didn't suck as much as actually having to GO to actual physical stores (only to deal with slowness, out of stockness, and - sweet cracker sandwich - parking lots! The horror!)
And when reminding myself of that fact wasn't working to take the edge off my frustration, I allowed myself a little fun...
These are the sites that kept me from becoming a total Grinch yesterday...
Enjoy!
Make-a-Flake - I love the look of paper snowflakes, but have never been that great at creating them... This site, then, is the answer to my problems! Virtual snowflake cutting - with the ability to preview often, and undo any unfortunate cuts. Love this site!
We Hate Sheep. We Love Holiday Sweaters. - heh!
3togetready introduced this to me, and it's HI-larious. You get to design your own tacky holiday sweater, or you can view the gallery of other unfortunate sweaters that other people have designed. (I swear, I think I've seen some of these sweaters modeled by some of Bubba's relatives!)
And, finally, Threadless has just released the last 18 designs for their $10 tee-shirt sale. I like the one that says "The Internet was closed so I thought I'd come outside today"
*Lego Set 6210 - Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge. Virtually impossible to find. In addition to scouring the web, this also required calling every single Toys R Us in the metro Atlanta area. I learned that customer service at Toys R Us in Atlanta is truly, wholly sucky.
EDITED TO ADD: I've managed to get my grubby little paws on a Jabba's Sail Barge - or it least it will be in my grubby little paws when it arrives in the mail. I managed to find a seller on eBay who seems really nice (I hope!) and only had to pay $20 more than I would have paid had I been able to get it from the Lego website.
In one way, this absolutely appalls me - y'all know I hate spending money. But when I consider that pretty much every other seller on eBay has DOUBLED (or more) the selling price AND I don't want to spend another whole day trying to track one down? Well, in that light, it seems like more and more of a bargain!
Thanks to all you sweet peas who did some searching for this item for me - that is just the nicest thing (and a perfect example of why I think bloggers are just nicer than you average bear!)
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9 comments:
Oh, good luck! #1 hasn't asked for much this year either, so now I have to get *GASP* creative! Actually think about something he MIGHT like!
Ugh.
Seriously, fingers crossed and all that - hope you find it!
Every year we go to an ugly Christmas sweater Party hosted by a friend. Goodwill has great choices if you don't receive good candidates from the reles. Now that I think about it ebay probably has some doozies too.
I'm a professional online shopper so I know exactly what you mean; it usually goes okay, but sometimes I want to set my PC on fire.
I just called my local Toys R Us to check, but they are also out of stock on that, apparent, favorite of the season. I'll keep my eyes open for it, though, as I continue the hunt for the elusive Guitar Hero 3 with wireless guitar that has become my mission...
I got all virtuous (and perhaps more importantly, I'm broke) and decided to make most of the presents this year.
As a result I have a tension headache like you would not believe.
Also one cannot make a Playstation 3 with parts around the house.
Megan, I do not want to hear that Guitar Hero 3 is difficult to find.
My best gift idea? A vermiculture (worm) bin. It lives under your kitchen sink and you throw food scraps in it for the worms to compost. I really, really wanted to get one of these for my folks. (No, we are not getting along perfectly right now) but DH shot the idea down. Damn.
What I meant to say when I hit the comment box: hang in there and good luck!
I spent a lot of time online shopping and i do love it, but I agree... the backordering really bothered me... Esp. since there is a wii game that just came out and it's backordered. I have no idea when we'll get it...
But thanks for the snowflake diversion! I just spent 10 min. doing them....
If you liked Make-A-Flake you will LOOOOVE http://www.popularfront.com/snowdays/
I got hooked on this last year, and truth be told I made a few snowflakes in the summer too - great for getting your mind off 90 degree weather :)
Sometimes I think that Christmas shopping has to be frustrating. Like it's just inevitable and you can't fight it. My sister is going crazy trying to find a Lego Dwarf Mine set. Apparently everyone is sold out and all the ebay people are charging double. (if only I'd known when I saw a stack of them in Target a month ago!!)
Jabba's Barge looks pretty cool - I'm surprised (and relieved) it wasn't on anyone's list around here!
Augh! I popped by Best Buys on Caroline Street yesterday and the parking lot was a nightmare. There was even a line to check out at 1:30 in the afternoon! Would have preferred to have purchased online but needed to see different models in person to pick the gift. All other Christmas gifts are from online shopping! Much cozier in my office to go shopping with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.
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