<p>The Mom: Too funny, I also ordered yesterday and today from thinkgeek and scienceteecher! (My H is just in the middle of becoming a science teacher, so that was the perfect site.)</p>
<p>Ordered a Commom Cold, Sleeping Sickness and Flesh Eating. </p>
<p>Passed on the Venereals ;)</p>
<p>Meaning chose not to order them, not help spread them…</p>
<p>my son is into Formula One racing and requested tons of books for Christmas so I got great deals at <a href=“http://www.motorbooks.com%5B/url%5D”>www.motorbooks.com</a>
Received 20% off my first order - saved $47.00!</p>
<p>Eastbay.com for the athletic son</p>
<p>ebay and laurenhope.com (for beautiful beaded bracelet with medical ID tags)</p>
<p>I stumbled onto <a href=“http://www.novica.com%5B/url%5D”>www.novica.com</a>. This site is associated with National Geographic, and has the most wonderful items from all over the world. Each item shows a picture of the artisan, a story about him or her, and every purchase helps support these skilled craftsmen, most from underdeveloped countries. The necklaces from Thailand are particularly beautiful, and fairly priced.</p>
<p>WOW, I was just going to suggest <a href=“http://www.novica.com%5B/url%5D”>www.novica.com</a> ! The artists are great, and their crafts are even better. TWO THUMBS UP!</p>
<p>I got a couple of early toys from <a href=“http://www.knifeoutlet.com%5B/url%5D”>www.knifeoutlet.com</a> - a [Spyderco</a> Aventura](<a href=“http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=SPYC102]Spyderco”>http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=SPYC102) and a [Randall</a> King Phantom Reflex](<a href=“http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=RK1BP]Randall”>http://knifeoutlet.com/shop/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=RK1BP). I lost my old Kershaw pocket knife on a recent trip.</p>
<p>A sister site, <a href=“http://www.chefsoutlet.com%5B/url%5D”>www.chefsoutlet.com</a>, has the [world’s</a> best salt & pepper mills](<a href=“http://www.chefsoutlet.com/eshop/10browse.asp?search=unicorn]world’s”>http://www.chefsoutlet.com/eshop/10browse.asp?search=unicorn) - we’ve had a set of these for a few years, and they rock. I recently bought a “designer” set of grinders from Bed Bath & Beyond that look like machined stainless steel for a new island counter top; they look great, but take about 20 turns to produce the same volume as one turn on the Magnum.</p>
<p>MLB.com (major league baseball). I bought signed baseballs from S’s favorite team player. I also shopped Pottery Barn, Tee-zone.com (Petit Bateau), ebay, and Eddie Bauer.</p>
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<p>m&sdad~</p>
<p>S has a pretty large collection, the most prized ones being Ebola and HIV, his two strongest areas of interest. We even gave an HIV one to the doc who wrote his recommendation last year. It was her area of expertise. He also has flesh-eating, sleeping sickness (it is SO cute!), cold, flu, and quite a few others! They are really cool!</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>Sleeping sickness is for my D, the HS senior and chronic napper. </p>
<p>The flesh eater is for a friend who actually had that disease, on his leg. He will see the humor. </p>
<p>The common cold is for my 7th grade S, who will just find it cute.</p>
<p>Kinky Friedman for Governor 2006
<a href=“http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/catalog/[/url]”>http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/catalog/</a></p>
<p>Roger_Dooley reminded me of another great place for the people who love to cook—Penzeys Spices:
<a href=“http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html[/url]”>http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html</a></p>
<p>my favorites are Fox Point, Vietnamese Cinnamon (one sniff and you will toss your grocery store variety!), Northwoods fire, Sandwich sprinkle…
One of the only touristy things I did on our northeastern college tour was to go to a Penzey’s IRL 
</p>
<p>Along with many of the usual - llbean, amazon, travelsmith etc. I’ve ordered wonderful sweaters for my guys at a much reduced price from Smartbargains.com. They have some GREAT buys on cashmere.</p>
<p>Is Kinky Friedman really running for governor of Texas? I’ve read every one of his books. He’s a hoot.</p>
<p>dak, I was just looking at the duvet covers on smartbargains…do you know what their quality is like? </p>
<p>In fact general question: I have a really nice down comforter and I need a cover for it that is not too expensive but will hold up to repeated washings. The dog sleeps on our bed (yeah, spoiled dog I know!) and so there is always hair. If anyone has a rec, let me know :)</p>
<p>Just received request from college S for holiday gift. Due to his dorm floormates constant visits for homework help, he wants signs/poster for his door that say something along the lines of: Answers: $1 … Answers that require thought: $2 … Correct answers: $5 … Dumb looks: free</p>
<p>I have googled signs and posters, and a couple of the sayings to no avail. Any suggestions on where I might find this? </p>
<p>Thanks much!!</p>
<p>You could make it on the computer and laminate it (MailBox etc., Kinko’s or similar would do that).</p>
<p>Thanks, have thought of that. Would still like to find an actual poster or sign. I know I have seen something like it somewhere, a long time ago…</p>
<p>Where else can you buy “Freudian Slippers” for the budding psychologist, finger puppets of everyone from Plato to Kierkegaard to Schrodinger’s Cat, and my favorite, the Global Warming Mug – fill it with a hot beverage and the coastlines on the map disappear. It’s a fun site to browse, with some unusual gift ideas. It’s at <a href=“http://www.philosophersguild.com%5B/url%5D”>www.philosophersguild.com</a>.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.alibris.com%5B/url%5D”>www.alibris.com</a> ^</p>
<p>Lots of good tees here, e.g. “Technical skill is mastery of complexity; creativity is mastery of simplicity.”
<a href=“http://www.scienceart.com/prodshow.php?category_id=3[/url]”>http://www.scienceart.com/prodshow.php?category_id=3</a></p>
<p>Also ordered “gifts” from-
<a href=“http://www.habitat.org%5B/url%5D”>http://www.habitat.org</a></p>