[Ed. Note: Actually, the Anachronistic Mom detests shopping. This page was written in an attempt to make sense of the years I spent shopping for the baby/kid and redecorating/fixing up the house. I should probably do more of this but I just ... cannot ... make myself go back. In the meantime, this is outdated but the info might still be mildly serviceable. No promise that I'll update it though. Unless someone medicates me.]
[Circa 2003]
The shopping page is growing by leaps and bounds. I have separated out the pure baby stuff from the maternity and nursing stuff. Strange, but it works for me.
Shopping for kid stuff
Probably one of my favorite things in the world. What fun! But it's hard to find good toys.
Kid-Centric Sites that Point to Shopping
Have you heard of EarlyChildhood.com? Neither have I but they look interesting and one of these days I'll check them out.
Kid Health Products
I was referred to Topacal toothpaste from an overseas friend. It is billed as an enamel-improving toothpaste and I'm not sure why they don't sell it here. It's supposed to be very good.
Shopping for mom stuff
Ah, my prejudices are showing here. I typically just buy a bunch of khakis from the Gap and some black t-shirts. So ... clothes are out. Don't care much about shoes (have had foot problems since pg!) Besides, what on earth can you wear for gardening, besides those british "wellies." (hmmmn.) Look for a gardening section, to come!
I did just find a really neat-looking online store, though, called Details.
Have you heard of FirstView? It's a designer clothing viewing site (yawn). A poser friend of mine introduced me to it and it's wonderful for those nights when you cannot sleep.
And here's something else! This company, Compucloz.com, is the company that will take your measurements and make you a fashion avatar for use in buying clothes over the internet. Also, you can play with hairstyles, or something like that.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, this personal shopper, Micki Turner, has been recommended. I haven't tried her but might.
Designer T-shirts and clothing
OK, now this is a bit odd. I just read in a magazine that James Perse t-shirts are all the rage in LA. Hmmn. I've been wearing Donna Karan t-shirts for 15 years, and they have changed a lot. Maybe I'll give these a try. At any rate, they have them at Heatherbloom. Nah. I saw them and they look like nylon and tight across the breasts. Call me old-fashioned, but I am fond of clothing that does not look as though I've inflated since I bought it, you know? But I hear that the texture is wonderful...
Comfortable clothing
I can never buy any clothes online. I'm too hard to fit and I never send anything back, making it a useless and expensive endeavor.
Unless you can find a pant that you like, and then search for it online!
Pants
If you're slender and tall, but not 25 or even 35, I just found some new pants that actually fit. They're made by a company called Womyn and they are unfortunately very expensive, but grand. I just typed Womyn pants into Google to find out that Nordstrom carries them and that they are not only in stock, but some are half price! Excuse me while I shop...
One of my pet peeves is socks. I have no idea why, but I literally have bags of socks, each of them partnerless, sitting in my closets. Why do I keep them? Well.... they're perfectly good socks. Sort of. And I wanted to get them out of my sock drawer!
I finally found the "dream sock' in my recent trip back east. I bought the Wigwam casual merino wool soft no itch all weather comfort socks. (great adjectives, huh? I wanted to let the purity of sensation wash over you, so I didn't taint the moment with anything so puerile as a comma.) They're wonderful. I think I bought four pair, dark and light grey. Ahem. It's been a month and a half and I have one pair left: one sock is light and one is dark.
This is one of the issues I'll be working on as I try to grow to my next stage...
Cooking stuff
Silly me. Cooking stuff is always fun.
Have you ever wanted to go to a cooking school? Well, Shawguides is an amazing, drool-on-the keyboard site that tells you about hundreds of cooking classes!
I just read about kitchengirlfriend.com. Check it out. This lady comes and gives you cooking classes in your own kitchen! Now that sounds like a great gift idea to me.
I love teas. I just found the coolest tea site. Arya teas. My favorite teas are the Kusmi teas and unfortunately my FAVORITE Kusmi tea is only sold in Paris. Go figure. But it's sold at the coolest store. Check it out. Amour des Thes. Not only do they sell St. Petersbourg Kusmi tea -- they sell it in BULK.
Shopping for gifts
OK, here's some useful stuff.
Amusing gifts
More sophisticated gifts
Red envelope is apparently still in business! They do "cool gifts" that are high quality. Or something like that. Since I grub in the dirt now, rather than play sophisticated anything, it's hard to relate, but here you go.
Generic gifts
Harry and David make those food tower thingies. Dull, IMHO, but handy if you need a quick fix.
Or you could just go the "gift closet" route and buy everything at overstock.com.
The coolest gifts
Here is one of my all-time favorite catalogs. Heifer International. Did you know that you and your kids can buy someone a goat for Christmas? They call themselves "the most important gift catalog in the world" and I think they're right. VERY cool. A duck, a pig a rabbit, a goat. I'll bet your kids would love giving one of these animals. And the stories are wonderful.
Or here's a site called The Scarlet Scarab, which makes items used by people who do 18th century re-enactments!
Socially correct gifts
Here's the start of a charity and political organizations page. Go to town. Don't forget something for the hungry. (Yeah, yeah, obnoxious to put this into shopping, you say? Well, YOU try organizing the inside of YOUR brain into a menu-friendly format! Besides, there's a kind of twisted logic about it. Maybe whenever folks walked into Tiffany's, if there was a little charity window there, donations would increase?)
Shopping for baby stuff
I have so many links from when my son was a baby. I remember being totally frustrated because I didn't know how to find a thing! Here's a first pass at stuff to buy when you're having a baby.
Shopping for daddy stuff
My husband doesn't really need this. He's just drooling over it in his spare time.
