My husband is the most difficult person to shop for. His birthday is right before Christmas, so it's always a gamble. He refuses to tell me what he wants and always makes up silly gifts, hoping that I'll give up! Never!

Two years ago, I was picking his brain, but he wouldn't give me any ideas. I told him that he had until the end of the day or I would buy myself a new camera instead of his gift. I thought threats would work to my advantage, but not so much!

A little back story. In our family it's, "Careful what you wish for!" When I was in college, I told my sister that I'd be happy with a box of tampons for X-Mas. I got 100...BOXES!

Jason finally got back to me and said, "Three words...Remote Controlled Squirrel." E-Bay it was!

I found man who had a stuff and mounted squirrel up for auction. I e-mailed him and asked him to end it early, but he was very curious as to why someone would need a stuffed/mounted squirrel overnighted. He wanted to make sure that the rare breed of squirrel was going to a good home. Naturally, I lied and told him that it was going on my husband's desk! It was shot by a famous hunter in PA, so he needed to know that it would be cared for. He gladly ended the auction and overnighted it.

Upon receiving the gross little thing, I went to the store and bought a remote controlled replica of Snoop Dogg's green Cadillac. Of course, I was totally respecting the critter when I cut off his feet with a pair of in snips and used zip-ties to attach it to the car. (That poor man would've croaked!)

We were having a big birthday at our house THAT NIGHT, so, after the presents were opened, I grabbed the remote and drove the car down the hallway. He loved it and said it was the funniest and most memorable birthday present he's ever gotten. Now, making a silly request and trying to fulfill it is our tradition.

Here's to hoping I win! His birthday's on the 18th and lord knows he's not going to make tis year any easier.

Melanie Schmidt

Photo of squirrel:
http://flickr.com/photos/47728071@N00/224572814/in/set-72157594251097212/

Green Tea Pocky sticks....

Deep dish pizza from Giordano's in Chicago. They'll pack it in dry ice and ship it. I was tired of hearing from my husband how you can't get a decent pie anywhere in St. Louis.

My son was about four years old. He had this stuffed Pikachu Pokemon that went everywhere with him. He LOVED it.

He took it over to "play" with his best friend, Joseph. When I went to pick him up, he was hysterically holding onto the shell of his Pikachu. It seems that Joseph's dog played with Pikachu as well... eating his eyes out and pulling most of his left ear off him. It looked beyond scary.

So, I suggested that we send Pikachu to the hospital. Garrett bought into the idea and we found a box and mailed it to the hospital (so he thought) and I trashed the scary thing thinking I'd just pick up another one.

Only, it was the height of the Pikachu crazy and there wasn't one anywhere in town. We spent the next two days looking at every single place online trying to find this exact Pikachu.

It took two full days and about 100 sights before we stumbled across the item. We had it shipped overnight and when it arived... I was so excited because I just knew that Garrett would be thrilled to see his buddy.

He opened it and looked at me... "Why did they fix his tail? I liked it the other way." Seems they had changed the tail design since we bought the original one. Luckily, he got over the tail issue and they became inseperatable again.

It was worth every single frustrating second seaching online.
-d

For the past two decades, I have had four Rodney Reindeer packed in my big box of holiday decor. After my fifth child was born, I decided the set was incomplete and began searching e-bay for a fifth reindeer toy. Having never used e-bay before, I was disappointed when I lost in my first try at an auction. My second try, I bid on three different auctions. I thought I might chance into one of the winning spots. I won all three auctions. When the first two Rodney Reindeer packages arrived at our door, my husband looked at my oddly. When the third package arrived, he finally asked how "just one more" had turned into eight new reindeer. I sheepishly told him about my e-bay experience. He hee-hawed and told everyone he knew that my first experience with e-bay was also my last.

A sheep costume for my dog. The other 5 people in our family were all dressed in a barnyard theme and I wanted the dog to fit into the theme.

The only thing my husband wants for Christmas is a Fart machine. So that is what he is getting.

I can't touch the remote control squirrel!

I do a lot of online shopping, and it's the first place I look when I need something a little unusual. Now that the pressure is on, of course, I can't remember any of the crazy stuff I've looked at.

But one of my odder online purchases was Volume 5 on the 1950s edition of the Interpreter's Bible. My husband inherited a set from his grandfather, but this volume was missing. Since it includes Song of Songs (as well as Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, and Jeremiah), I figured a good wife had to get it for him, right? It was Amazon Marketplace to the rescue.

For the record, he was thrilled with the gift. It immediately joined the rest of the set on the bookshelf, where they have sat gathering dust ever since.

I shopped for a couple of Christmas' ago a "Crazy Cat Lady" figurine that had about 20 cats with it for a friend. It took me forever, but I had seen it on Boing Boing I believe.

Yeah, I found it. 8^)

I shopped for my entire wedding online. Never met anyone involved: cake, desserts, catering, photographer, officiant, decorations, flowers, all done online.

The only thing I bought in person was the dress, of course. But I bought shoes online.

My husband grew up with a cookie jar that had "cookies" raised on the sides and a walnut knob on the lid. His dad was never there for him; he basically never appeared to really give two farts in the wind about his son. But one Christmas, his dad gave him a cookie jar just like the long-lost one he had when he was growing up. He'd found it at a yard sale or flea market.

Then two years ago, I broke it while cleaning. That was the Christmas I searched high and low to replace it. And I found another one online! My husband thought it was ridiculous that I'd spend $30 on a cookie jar, but it wasn't the cookie jar I was paying for... It was so he'd have that one good memory of his Dad.

When my husband was in junior high, he liked to buy Limburger cheese and "accidently" leave an opened chunk of it in other people's refrigerators.

When he told me about this, still laughing, I thought it would be fun to put a piece of limburger in his lunch bag. However, limburger is impossible to find in little midwestern towns.

So I bought some on a Belgian cheese website. The smallest amount they would send overseas was five pounds.

So I bought five pounds of limburger cheese off the internet, and it stunk up the whole post office and everybody there was mad at me.

Except my husband, who thought it was awesome. He put half of it in other people's refrigerators, and ate the rest. (Nobody suspected him of being the StenchMeister because he's supposedly a grownup; I think somebody's teenager was the prime suspect)

Surprisingly, it did not give him either gas or bad breath.

Although I could have said "A Husband" because I found him on match.com, that's not too unusual these days. The fact that he didn't turn out to be a serial killer or anything like that would be the lucky part, but again, not too interesting! So, given that, I would have to say that the most unusual thing I have web-shopped for is an anti-flatulence Seat Cushion. No, really, a Seat Cushion that has a charcoal filter built into it so if you pass gas it absorbs the smell. And Why, you ask? Well, it was a joke, really, but it turned out to be much more than expected. You see, my sister's hubby is the most difficult man in the entire world to buy for. No, really, the worst! Every year it's the same thing... "oh, I don't want anything, just whatever you think is perfect for me." Well, my first idea is a baseball bat that I can use to smack a gift idea out of him, but since I don't want our Christmas to end up on Jerry Springer I have come up with a wonderful list of things for the country guy who has everything! Among the must-have items for his Redneck Gift Bag are 2 tickets to see Ron White, the CD "A Very Larry Christmas" by Larry the Cable Guy, and the piece de resistance - a GasBGone Flatulence Filter Seat Cushion! Because, you know, guys have a really bad habit of breaking wind, almost anywhere, but with this handy filter, found on the intarnetz (of course), nobody has to know about that Burrito with extra Jalapenos that you just absolutely had to have for lunch! Yes, I actually went out on the intarnetz and searched for a Flatulence Filter. And, lo and behold, my friends a Dairiaire, LLC were the first ones to come up! The only reaction that you can have to this (other than OMGWTF) is "amazing"! Here's the link, because at this point I am quite sure that you are thinking "no way, she's making this one up": www.gasbgone.com. And, because someone there felt that they hadn't gone quite far enough with this concept, they also sell underpants with microfiltration built right in! Ain't that handy? Just as handy as a pocket on a shirt, I'd say! So, that's my odd shopping experience, and to quote Larry, "that's some funny stuff right there, I don't care who you are!" Now, quit shopping on the internetz and get back to work! OBTW - love me some busymom, love this contest, and love me some Ipod! Can't wait to see who the winners are! Good luck everybody!

I searched for and bought a T-bone air freshner for a friend with a true love of the beef. Also picked up bacon bandaids while I was there. The most fun gag gift site I have run across...http://www.mcphee.com/items/11065.html

I bought a small case of "vintage" shampoo off of ebay a few years ago -- Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific. And it was every bit of wonderful that I remembered as a child.

Well, I shop for everything online including groceries, furniture, clothes, electronics, houses, OTC medications and gifts. So when we were looking for a puppy I went straight to google to look for labrador breeders in my area. I e-mailed the breeders and browsed photos of various litters available and narrowed my choices down before traveling to see the puppies in person. Yes, I could have actually purchased the puppy online, but some things still have to be done in person. All my virtual "legwork" saved me a whole lotta actual legwork. And my puppy is just perfect now that she is house-trained. :)

My story is short and sweet (and a little bit embarrassing).

My husband called me one day and told me to go online and buy this for him.

http://www.vickdogchewtoy.com/

So I did.

I shopped for a ski house online. Seriously, looked at real estate online, found the one I wanted, bid via email, closed via fedex and the best part . . . furnished the entire house online! You would be surprised beds, mattresses, couches, end tables, sheets, towels and decorative things all available and mostly with free shipping. When we finally arrived (3 hours from our house) it was like Christmas to find out what was in all the different boxes!

I tried to buy my husband a set of tervis tumblers (you know the plastic cups that won't sweat) with Misfit skulls in them.

They ended up being way to expensive.

Seeing as I am one of the last people in the country to have an Ipod, I really want to win this. Also, my mother really doesn't want to buy me one for my present, so SHE wants me to win this. Anyway, the craziest thing I shopped for online was for my father. In high school he played for the High School All American Football Team. His family didn't have much money (or any) and this was a huge deal that helped him get a scholarship to college. When he made the team, Bulova sent him a letter that they were making a limited edition watch for the players and that his parents could buy it for him for a reduced price. They couldn't afford to buy it, but he saved that letter. Some forty odd years later I found the letter and spent THREE years searching for one of those watches. I talked to watch collectors, watch makers, etc all online. I never knew the vast world of watch collectors until google and I got to work. I could have had a replica made, but that just wasn't what I was looking for. I saved a search on ebay and one day, a hit popped up. It turned out that a guy had bought a bunch of watches in an estate sale and one was THE watch. I immediately bid a ton of money, just in case, and almost cried when I won the watch. I put it in a shadowbox along with his high school varsity letter. I also gave him the ebay print out (cost redacted of course) and the saved search to show how many years I had been looking. His reaction made the work worth it, and it was one of my happiest gift giving moments.

Hi!
1 - Let me get the butt-smooching out of the way. I LOVE your blog!
2 - I am actually ALSO a blogger, so I think you are awesome beyond awesome.
3 - The craziest things have been bought online by me. See, my shih tsu, Lily, and yorkie, Frankie, recently (as in three days ago) started a family. Since they are a year old, and our first pets to have MATED (babies having babies!) we needed to research and buy the necessary supplies. This included:
a. "B*tches Milk" (asterick in place in case you have spam controls) - it's like whey protein, and you sprinkle it on Lily's food so she has extra calcium for all the baby-feeding!
b. A rubber blow up swimming pool. Apparently puppies like to whelp in there. Mine didn't.
c. An air pump (see above)
d. A whelping basket. (We got a brown wicker one, not realizing the dog would EAT IT. Vomiting followed)

But all is well and the babies are gorgeous!!! So m uch so that I sit all night watching them and do not sleep. An ipod to keep me company would help!

PS: My birthday is acutally in two weeks. Wouldn't this be the most awesome present ever? (Aside from the litter of shorkie-tsus?)

I recently shopped for a fossilized Megalodon tooth (the largest carnivorous fish ever, in case you were wondering...)

The craziest thing I've ever shopped for online would be a box for shipping a bike. Doesn't sound too crazy, does it? Go ahead, try it, then let me know what you think.

I've shopped for a physician to stay in my home and help out with my small therapy practice after Katrina hit. Good times.

I can't see how this would make the top 5. I can't touch the squirrel or the Limberger. :)

But, I buy EVERYTHING I can online. Frequently get groceries that way. Diapers. Drugstore items. And of course the usual books, DVDs, etc.

So about 5-6 years ago, I needed a new vacuum. So instead of running out to Target on my lunch hour, I just bought one off Amazon. The shipping was free [which is good since it is a @#$@# heavy vacuum] and I learned just as much, if not more, about the model as I would have in the store.

Everyone in my office thought that was pretty bizarre. It didn't seem that weird to me, but hopefully it will to the esteemed judges. :)

For me, it was beer :) My husband and I met thru a divorce support website when we were going thru our divorces. He was located just outside of Seattle, me just outside of NYC. So, a year or so later he relocated out east (for me, he's the most awesome man ever!). His biggest gripe about moving out here was our lack of "good beer". He had tons of microbreweries near where he lived with amazing beer. He kept talking about this one beer, Jubelale, that he would have access to around the holidays. I searched high and low around our home and could find nothing even close. So, I went online to about a million (at least it seemed like a million) sites until I scored 2 six-packs of this treasured favorite. Needless to say, I won the "greatest wife ever" award on Christmas morning :)

To this day, he still looks forward to his present every Christmas morning :)

Hello! I didn't buy one -- because I couldn't find it -- but I was shopping for a "Whack a Mole." Seriously. My boss LOVES that game. Yeah, the same one that's big on the Midway. (And if anyone happens to know where I can fine one ...

I once had to shop online for a vibrator for work. And not just any vibrator, a special medical device for men with paralysis. I worked in a research lab studying HIV and we needed to get semen out of monkeys and one of the researchers thought this was more humane than the electro-stimulation method that was the standard.

So there I was, attempting to explain to the IT guys, why I needed to go to all these blocked sites to shop for vibrators... for the monkeys. And then explaining to purchasing why I needed to order this thing, and then explaining to all my co-workers why they couldn't take it out of the box and play with it, once it arrived.

That was the best "guess what I did at work today, honey?" ever!

Some of these entries are so great! Mine's not as weird, but I'll throw it out there anyway!
The strangest thing I ever shopped for was a gyroscope. A friend mentioned off-handedly that he wanted one when I asked what he'd like for his birthday. (He's a bit of a geek, if you hadn't already guessed.)
Being a non-geek myself, I had to find out what it WAS, but after some hard-core looking, (including phoning local physics teachers and Discovery reps) I finally found one on ebay, and, even better, it cost me a whole 12 dollars with shipping!
He absolutely loved it - said he liked it even better than what he got from his girlfriend - which made me feel terribly guilty but still very proud of myself! :-D

A boat. Not a toy boat - an honest to God floats in a lake motor boat. I bought a boat on Ebay about 7 years ago. Now it doesn't sound quite as crazy as it did then. When I was doing it, my family thought I was insane - who buys a boat on the internet? They were sure I was going to end up getting scammed or it was going to end up in the bottom of the lake. It ended being a pretty good deal.

Bison. (All ready to cook and eat.)

Because we are too lazy to drive the 30 miles to go get it! Well, that and it keeps you from adding a million other things to the order...you know, "to try."

Of course, that was a long, long time ago and now we try to buy EVERYTHING from online. It's just so much easier, especially with kids and work and all.

The oddest thing, at least to me that I have bought online are my cats claw covers. We didn't get her declawed, so now we go to softpaws, and purchase her fake "finger nail" claw covers in lots of fun colors. We buy different colors for the holidays, and they even have multi-colored ones.

I had to shop for an inflatable moose head. It's not easy, really. You can buy stuffed animal-type moose heads/taxidermy. You can buy actual taxidermy (ebay is loaded with it!). But an inflatable one? Ha! I'm not even sure how the internet/Google gods allowed me to find that site. But, my boyfriend wanted something mounted to hang in the "game room" - we had darts and board games, so we wanted some "game" animal heads. However, we weren't sure if real taxidermy animals would work for us and the stuffed animal ones were just too kid-like for ours tastes. The only option left was this inflatable moose head that looks pretty much like a moose. He's still hanging over the fireplace and now he has Christmas garland over his antlers. Awesome. I love shopping online.

When we lived in Oklahoma, we fell in love with a particular brand of barbecue sauce. Since then, we order a whole case or a few gallons of it each spring. Yes, the quantity gets us quite a few strange looks but the taste is one of a kind!

I have three random items:

1. my husband's wedding band. found the perfect one at a fraction of the cost ($150!!) on amazon and bought it instantly.
2. snyder brand potato chips--can't find them here but ate them growing up.
3. george in the box! a george w bush that plays hail to the chief when you crank it and up pops g.w. on a podium. my granddad loved it--best Christmas gift ever.
(I don't remember where i bought it but here is the item: http://presentpicker.com/ppp/rep/George--W.--Bush--Jack--In--The--Box.html)

I like giving gift cards for presents, but the craziest thing I ever shopped for online is USED gift cards! I like collecting gift cards of all shapes and sizes, that light up and spin, fold and bend. I keep a big basket of them in my office in ziplock bags to preserve them. Target cards, Starbucks, seasonal cards - they stack and store easily in a big Rubbermaid bin.
Don't get me started on buying used Lego online - I collect bins of them as well!
Have a Merry Christmas!

In 1997, my husband bought a collectible bottle of bourbon on eBay. The bottle was a ceramic hillbilly figure & the seller claimed it was sealed - but when it arrived, the seal looked suspiciously like it had been tampered with. We didn't plan on drinking it or selling it, though, so we displayed it on a shelf and didn't give it much thought.

Then, one night a few years later after many beers and against our better judgement, we drank it. When a guest accidentally knocked the bottle of the shelf, it didn't break but half of it spilled, so we all decided to pass around the hillbilly and polish it off.

Who drinks from a tampered bottle of alcohol purchased on eBay? What were we thinking? We're probably lucky to be alive.

I have a serious addiction for buying coach purses online. That way hubby has no clue when I purchase a new one and does not have a stroke due to the sticker shock. He gets the shakes everytime we pass the store at the mall.

We bought a Jeep Cherokee on eBay a few years ago. Now, I know that doesn't sound terribly weird but here's the thing. The car was located in New Hampshire and we live in Nashville, TN! We flew one way (on a free SW ticket my husband had) and drove the car back to TN. Also, it was February. So while the weather was kind of mild in TN, it was cold and snowing in the NE. We thought for a little while after arriving that we might not make it home as quickly as we had thought we would! But we were able to drive out of it and made it home by the next day.

Turned out, the Jeep was in pretty crappy condition. We sold it (through newspaper ads) less than a year later. I don't think we'll ever buy a car off the Internet again!

you've heard of absinthe, right? you know, the hallucinogenic drink of choice of crazy european artists, writers and musicians of the 1800s? illegal in the u.s?

once, when visiting a friend in nyc, we read a new yorker article about a certain bar in SoHo selling absinthe and we set off to find it. searched everywhere with no luck -- no one had even heard of the bar -- but did have a lot of drinks in other bars. returned home and re-read the article to find that there were referring to SoHo in london, not new york.

fast forward about 10 years, i'm going to visit this same friend who has just bought a house in houston, tx and i want to bring her a housewarming gift. so i searched for and purchased online a gen-u-wine bottle of absinthe from france. arrived in a brown paper pkg, literally.

shhh.

Okay, this is ONLY because I used to work in purchasing for an agricultural center. And remember I do live in Louisiana where this sort of thing may not be necessarily so 'odd'. But I've purchased bull semen AND a mechanical vagina (for bulls, not humans)!

Oh, I just remembered that my husband bought his hang glider online years ago & had it shipped to us from out of state. He flew it off a mountain too ... after a very thorough inspection.

Two words: canned haggis.

What is haggis, you ask? It's a sheep liver, heart and lungs ground up and stuffed into the sheep's stomach with oats and spices and cooked. Yes, people eat this. Maybe only on a dare, but people do eat it. Wikipedia has an entry on it.

I bought it for a friend of mine who was from Scotland but living in the US. He missed his home, so I thought I would cheer him up by getting him a traditional Scottish dish. But you can't find haggis in your average Midwestern deli. So I searched on the internet and found canned haggis. (E-mail me if you should ever want the website, which I doubt you do.) Seemed like the perfect compromise.

Turns out? Canned haggis apparently isn't as good as the real thing. (Although the general population mostly agrees that the real thing isn't so good, either.) He took one bite and gagged. It took awhile to get the smell of the cooked canned haggis out of his apartment, too.

The lesson learned? Next time, just buy a good single malt scotch.

errrm...

1. Daylily Plants for my father for Christmas
2. A Pachinko Machine for my son for Christmas.
3. Chicken Sh*t to fertalize said Daylily plants..
4. Candied Cherries and Pineapple... you can't FIND the frickin candied pineapple in the stores... grrr

1. gallons of elmers glue to make flubber (4 gallons @ staples with free shipping)
2. ice melt (bags of it at peapod.com)
3. moving boxes
4. bubble wrap for moving boxes
5. arctic bunker (target.com free shipping!)

Okay, I'm not sure I can beat some of those enteries!

But, here it goes! I found myself shopping for a 21 year old female online. I had to search several websites before I found the female I wanted to pay to buy "eggs" from. I paid 5K for a 21 year old female to "harvest donor eggs" for me. Boy, did that feel wrong to search websites for a "female" and then to check with my husband!!!!

I created a post over here

http://notjustaworkingmom.blogspot.com/2007/12/anyone-need-mudbath.html

Short answer - a mudbath

Gee, I'm not even sure what the heck an iPod Nano IS, but I'm sure I need one.

I probably can't top some of these incredibly weird entries, but we just bought Pat Boone's albumn "No More Mister Nice Guy" where he does show tune versions of heavy metal songs. They're absolutely hilariously horrid! We got it as a gift for my brother-in-law. He has a strange sense of humor.

Listen to couple of song clips. You'll either laugh yourself into a hernia, or you'll feel ill!

Catapult watch. Google it. It's very cool and my husband loved it.

Oh the crazy things I've shopped for online. The craziest? Potato chips. That's right folks, potato chips. I grew up in Northern IL in a town called Rockford. There is a potato chip that is sold only in that area called Mrs. Fisher's Chips. There are no words to explain how wonderful these chips are. :) So after many years of begging my relatives that still live in the area to send me chips, I finally found that they have a website. I was so excited that I called my husband while he was in a meeting to tell him! (He knows I'm slightly insane ;) ) I was singing at my desk I was so excited. My co-workers were walking by asking me what I was so excited about. They gave me strange glances when I told them "I'm order potato chips...ONLINE!" Now I order them two or three times a year. It's a little taste of home, but it's also the best chip you'll ever eat.

Like many other commenters, I buy pretty much everything online. Being housebound does that to you!

The craziest thing I ever bought online was a full sized stop light. You know, the yellow, green, and red stoplights that hang up on the wires above your head when you're driving. Those things are HUGE. But I bought one to donate to my former synagogue in California for use on Purim. I had to rewire the thing so that it could be controlled from the Bima (like a stage). It was to control the crowd during the reading of the Scroll of Esther, because whenever the name Hamen is read, everyone yells and swings their groggers (noisemakers) and the only way to get them to shut up again so the readers can continue is to use a stop light.

I've searched for many weird things, though, including Dala horses for my daughters collection she inherited from me, British Royal Commerative china cups (I have pretty much every one from Queen Victoria to the modern day), menstrual cups for the 'ahem' mature woman, bras, TastyCakes when we lived in California, NYC Bagels when we lived in California, car parts, makeup, clothing, fake palm trees and pink flamingos for the snowy yard the winter that snow never melted, food, etc. But the stoplight was, by far, the weirdest thing.

Busy Mom, if you ever get tired of that light up poinsettia you can sell it to me*. And that will probably be the weirdest thing I've ever bought online.

____
* for a reasonable price. I admit I'm oddly obsessed with that thing - but I'm not crazy. I'm not internet stalking all your Christmas decorations.

Ummmm.... glow-in-the-dark prophylactics... and maternity underwear (not at the same time)

story here:
http://www.practigal.net/practigal/2005/06/around_here_you.html

I bought menstral products online...ever heard of the diva cup??? It's a cup you place in your vagina to hold the "flow" for about 12 hours.

BEST ONLINE PURCHASE EVER, HANDS DOWN!!!

Several years ago, when gas was more affordable (remember, like $2 a gallon?) we were the proud owners of a 1971 Monte Carlo. Harvest Gold. It was the sweetest ride ever. Had an awesome 442 big block. Mmmmm.

It needed a new front bumper. Back then bumpers were actually real chrome. There are a number of salvage yards within a comfortable distance from here in So. Illinois, but no such luck. The Google listings were not very promising, but I started down the list. The fifteenth place I called had one! I was so excited, proclaiming myself the first lady of Google. There was no car part I couldn't locate! And this one was only $299!! I was so stoked. "So, where do we ship it", the guy asks. I tell him and he goes "we don't sell to the States" and I'm all like "NO! Why? I'm good people!!" and he's all "well, it's really hard to get muscle car parts up here and we don't like 'em to leave" and "there's really high tariffs on performance blah blah blah" and I'm literally crying, begging him, "please let me buy this bumper!" But, no. He would not let me buy this bumper.

And to this day you cannot mention anything relating to Canada to me without much grumbling and disparaging remarks on my part. I used to think they were okay folks, but they do not play nicely with others. Anyway, several (17) phone calls later I found a re-chromed bumper in Chicago, of all places. For $479. Plus $55 shipping. Which I paid, gladly. Got it 2 days later. Sold the car 3 weeks later--but that's a whole different story.

I purchased beans for the bean bag chair on line because my dog has a bean bag chair and doesn't like change and the beans were wore down (she is 70lbs) so I bought a bag of beans (there were sold in the cubic feet - whatever that is) and restuffed her chair.

It's not that strange compared to some of the things here, but I had to go online to buy extra "freight" for my then-toddler's Thomas the Train Big Loader. This freight was actually tiny marbles that would get lost and were impossible to find, at least until you walked through the house barefoot. They were pretty hard to find online, too.
I also had to get extra straws for those plastic straw-cups. I see them in the stores now, but at the time, you had to search online for them.
Okay. Maybe these were lame, but I'd LOVE that Nano!

I am discouraged by the entry about bull semen as I really think THAT is a winning entry. I still think my entry is good, although my husband thinks the fact that I ordered secret deodorant from Amazon to make up the difference for free shipping is odd.

I am not sure if this qualifies, but while showing someone the ins and outs of e-bay, we shopped for "guano." We looked around just to prove a point, which was that you can find absolutely everything there. There were five people selling bat guano!

I guess I'll always been very in touch with my Hillbilly roots! My husband and I drove 1.5 hours to a old country village about a month ago to buy REAL pork cracklins. I was heartbroken to learn they don't make them anymore.

Thank God for the internet. You can find darned near everything on the net - Even Pork Cracklins!

Next, some think it's strange that we buy live chicks or hatching eggs online. But we do have an adorable flock of chickens to flaunt because of it.

"Hockey" anything and "chocolate" anything. (His and hers gifts!)

I can't even come close to the squirrel story, but the oddest thing I've ever shopped for is a University of Miami hockey jersey. Yeah, the University of Miami, in Miami, FLORIDA. My other half heard about it and wanted one, being an alum and all. I found it on ebay, did the buy it now deal and it was gone. I've looked to find another one for my son, but can't find it anywhere. Just glad I got it when I did.

I bought my house online. I was getting a divorce, selling my house and had to move 800 miles away with no time or money to go looking. So I surfed the net...I found a vacation rental house on Vacation Rentals By owner, I emailed the owner and asked him if he would sell it to me, I researched the neighborhood, schools, taxes, stores, EVERYTHING online. I stalked the poor old man so long that he finally gave in. I bought it, had it inspected and closed on it. NEVER saw it til the day I moved in.

I can't beat the squirrel!

I actually have a pair of Dr. Scholl's shoes that I love (not that there's anything wrong with Dr. Scholl's, but I'm only 26)! Mine are pretty worn out, and so I thought maybe I would find a pair online - these particular shoes are no longer made, so I have now resorted to looking for a slightly used pair of Dr. Scholl's shoes on the internet. No luck so far, but fingers crossed!

I guess the ITEMS are not really CRAZY, but I'm crazy for purchasing my wedding dress (sight unseen other than picture) and a garment bag for the wedding dress, online. Lucky for me they both worked out perfectly!

When I was pregnant with my four year old, I had a huge craving for a certain kind of ice cream that was sold in our local mall when I was a child. It had a block of vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate and then rolled in peanuts. It was served on a stick. Man...just writing about it makes me want one! I tried to find out whether or not there was somewhere to buy it online, but to no avail...

Stella Doro Breakfast Treats (a cookie made by kraft). It is my husband's all time favorite cookie! We moved and they only sell it at one store in our whole state and the store is over 6 hours away (in an area we have never been to).

My husband is a big pheasant hunter, so he had mentioned a stuffed pheasant would be nice to have. Yes, there's nothing better than having a dead bird staring down at you in the middle of the night while you're up getting some water. Anyway, I bought one from ebay and when it arrived, it had obviously been through some pretty heavy torture after the stuffing. I wrapped it up and gave it to hubs, anyway. We joked that it had been thru a fire and it was the only thing that was salvagable. Anyway, we named him "Smokey" and he sits above our kitchen cabinet with some fake greenery strategically placed to disguise the torture damage. I just can't throw him away!

I just got done searching for THE perfect pig snout mug. Yes. My biz partner and I were born in the "year of the pig" which has resulted in many "piggy" comments, so this year i am sending her a nice mug that has the snout at the bottom (when you tip it up it looks like your nose is that of a nice big fat potbellied pig). Perfect gift for all on your list... http://snouts.com/

Thanks for the fun! :)

Matching Amish outfits for us to take Christmas Pictures in. And we are not Amish. And it was suprisingly hard to find something for everyone, if you catch my drift. We ended up with the kids in matching outfits... including the boy. And I loved it and they hated it.

A cow. We can't get organic meat around here so we've had to take matters into our own hands and find it via the 'net.

When I was pregnant with my 4th (and 1st boy), I was put on bedrest at 16 weeks. Since my next oldest was 7 years older (and a girl), we didn't have anything boyish enough or that met the ever-changing safety standards of the day. I bought his entire nursery (Blue Jean Teddy theme) on eBay. And all the baby gear, layette, the works came from Amazon, eBay and other baby sites. I spent 20 weeks in bed and all that shopping was the only thing that kept me sane. His nursery was awesome too. In fact when it was all done, my husband was so impressed that he didn't even complain about the bills which was the first and last time that ever happened.

Thank God for long-term disability insurance...

Here is a link to my blog where I wrote about the weirdest thing I've ever shopped for online.

http://peaceloveandvegetables.blogspot.com/2007/12/weirdest-thing-ive-ever-shopped-for.html

I tend to get on hobby kicks and a few years ago, I decided I was going to become an expert organic gardener. I knew I needed to start small - so I had a friend help me put together one raised bed in my yard.

My plan was to grow tomatoes and lettuce -- all without chemicals, of course. So I read up, joined an online support group for beginner organic gardeners, and carefully prepared my bed and planted my baby plants. It immediately became clear that I was doing something really wrong because, let me tell you, those plants were struggling.

When people with gardening experience would come over, I'd ask them what they thought I should do to improve their chances, and they usually suggested pesticides or chemical fertilizers, neither of which I was willing to use (this was supposed to be ORGANIC gardening, remember?). Finally, an elderly neighbor who happened to be over told me that what I really needed was "worms in poop." She said that her mother had always had a thriving garden, and she swore by adding live earthworms mixed with manure to her garden.

I had an "aha" moment and remembered I had read something about buying worms online on my organic gardening e-mail list. So I googled "buy worms and poop" and discovered, if you can believe it, several online worm retailers.

I think I went with "The Worm Farm" (which I notice happens to be running a Christmas Special at the moment (see: http://www.thewormfarm.net/TheWormFarm_Christmas_Special.htm -- if you hurry and order, you can get your own worms in poop before Christmas!)

So I happily made my online purchase of worms, worm "bedding" (that's worm farmer-speak for poop) and worm chow, along with a special worm bin. I spent not an inconsiderable amount of money on what I hoped would be my little gardening knights in slimy armor. Then I anxiously awaited their arrival.

My UPS guy was pretty disgusted when I told him what he was handing over, but I assured him he'd be singing a different tune when I began gifting him with delicious, homegrown, ORGANIC vegetables. I unpacked the worms and carefully followed the directions for cultivating them in the bin of poop before adding them to my garden. Within days, however, it became clear that my talent for cultivating worms was surpassed only by my talent for cultivating lettuce and tomatoes. They all died. All of them. One after the other. Every few hours I would open the bin and peek into what was supposed to have been a worm paradise, and a few more of them would be goners.

The entire experiment was a huge fiasco. After the worms died, and I disposed of the poop I'd ordered online, I pretty much gave up on my little garden. I think I got three puny tomatoes that year.

I have bought so many things over the years online.

For my wedding, I bought sparklers online for our wedding reception. Everyone lit sparklers outside as we left the reception and got into our limo to leave for the night. Great idea I thought but never thought about the SMOKE. Boy was it just too smoky for decent photos.

Happy Holidays!

Oh and I also bought Cajeta, a Mexican caramel sweet made from goats milk. I love it but didn't want to look for it locally so went to mexgrocer.com. Yummy over vanilla ice cream. Try it!

I can't touoch any of these crazy orders online. But I have recently been shopping on line for my father in law. He has no interest in anything and he is hard to buy for. He is known to sit in his truck and listen to cassettes of Jerry Clower and laugh at the stories like he has never heard them before, we think he is getting dementia, anyway he also loves The Andy Griffith Show and because he will not run the VCR or the DVD players, I thought he would enjoy the old Andy Griffith comedy records from the 50s. I have searched the internet and found cassettes of the old LPs. I am getting all that I can get my hands on. Not crazy or strange but a little off from the norm.

I love those mini dehydrated marshmallows that come in Lucky Charms, or hot coco mix. I finally found them online at www.getsuckered.com No more gummy nasty marshmallows in my hot coco!!

Oh yeah, I forgot. I bought a house for frogs. We found a bunch of tadpoles near my in-laws house in Scotland and my husband carried them down to London on the plane. We dug out a pond for them in our garden - but they needed some place to live after they got legs, right?

So, I bought a frog house online. It was really cute, with a thatched roof and everything. It wasn't forty dollars cute though. (I'm an idiot). And the frogs? After the first storm they hopped away and we never saw them again.

My cats enjoyed sitting on the forty dollar frog house for a while and sharpened their claws on the thatched roof. And now, it's forty dollar mulch.

The weirdest thing I have ever shopped for online was crotch rocket underwear. For a grown ass man. Who is over weight. And has a farmer tan. And they have a giant exploding rocket on the crotch.

So I wanted an alternative to my deodorant since I thought my deodorant was darkenning my underamrs. I asked my grandmother because she said she doesn't use deodorant and she has no BO whatsoever. So she told me about this "rock" called "tawas" in her native language that whitens your underarms and helps decrease underarm hairs. Desperate as I was, I went to research it online and found this company in the East Coast that sold this "rock" aka potassium alum. Somehow, it was the only company in the US that carried it, so, naturally, I bought one.

It was $13 for one small rock + shipping and handling. Altogether, I must've paid close to $20 for it. I must admit, it was the oddest thing I've ever bought in my life. I tried it for a few days but it really had no beneficial effects on me so I went back to using deodorants.

This is going to sound crazy but I went shopping for Wolf Urine....which amazingly they sell in the "Kitchen & DIning" secion of Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Urine-Lure-32-oz/dp/B0006IGZSM). I was tired of my FIL complaining about the various critters messing up his garden and read online that wolf urine kept raccoons etc at bay.

I bought it online because the thought of going to a store and asking for wolf urine was too mortifying.

Two years ago the ONLY thing my (then) 6-year old daughter wanted for Christmas was a "large stuffed duck." Yeah. Ducks at Easter, easy - before X-mas, not so much. I spent days on-line, and finally found what I am convinced was the only large stuffed duck in the country. The shipping cost something like 4x the duck, and we spent a couple hours X-mas eve stuffing the bean bag filling into the too-small zipper, but it was all worth it when she walked into the living room X-mas morning to see a giant yellow (think rubber duck-looking) smiling beast. Then, last year, her request was "giant stuffed camel." (Although that came only after we convinced her that Santa wouldn't be able to deliver on her wish for a tail.) Camels, even stuffed ones large enough to sit on, are much easier to find at X-mas!

ps - the remote-control squirrel wins hand down!

I once went looking for a Canadian ecommerce site that sells German Christmas specialties. I live in Germany, but my family lives in Canada.

I have also gone looking for German ecommerce sites that sell Canadian specialties in Germany.

The good are always affordable, but the international shipping costs can be unbelievable!

I mentioned this contest in this post:
http://www.babylune.com/a-little-distraction-action/

I'm a cappucino addict and I must have my daily cuppa to keep me refreshed. I love all things cappucino so when a friend told me that she had used coffee-scented soap before, I was determined to get my hands on some of it as well. But my local store had no such product so online I went and whaa - I found a delightful product - Cappucino soap that looks like dog poo!!! You can find it here if you are interested (http://www.nopeitssoap.com/). It's great and has got the kids interested in washing their hands and I plan to give it as a Christmas present to some colleagues - what a laugh!

I actually bought a replacement baby tooth on Ebay after my daughter lost the one she'd had under her pillow. $3 for a tooth!
But she still happily looks at that tooth with the rest of them...so I guess it was worth it!

I bought online was last year for my husband a Houston Texans Grill Cover. Every year my husband can just look at the packaging of a gift or just get one or two hints and he can totally guess his gift. I thought for a fact he might get that it's something from his favorite sports team but would never actually guess exactly what it is, because I thought it was obscure enough. He guessed it in about 20 guesses and three hints.

Mmm Wisconsin cheese curds. It's a regional delicacy and you simply can't buy it elsewhere.

The most unusual thing i shopped for was a "bull scrotum" purse! I thought it was the "best of the worst gifts" to give to my best friend - as a gag gift of course. Having her open that gift in front of people was outrageously funny! Best gift yet!

Great contest, brings back fun memories :)

I have been through all of my past shopping history and can't find anything else to shock and surprise! My inlaws bought this for us as a gag gift, and I still am not sure if they expected us to actually taste it:http://www.jonessoda.com/files_new/turkey.html

Surely they meant to buy me REAL (Dublin) Dr. Pepper:
http://www.dublindrpepper.com/

I'm glad the contest is over soon. Win, lose, or draw, I can quit dreaming of ipods.

I have and am currently shopping online for a 10 foot teepee. I have always wanted some sort of treehouse/play house for my children big enough for me to get in as well and figured that a teepee is the way to go. They are beautiful things but I cannot figure out how they will or how I can afford the cross country shipping of the 18 ft long poles....

After staffing our Christmas purchasing, I am on the hunt for an "elf on the Shelf" (I just got one and it is SO CUTE!) and a lobster gram for my mother in law.

You know, even if I don't win the Ipod, at least I will have my Christmas list made, so that is a positive.