Zhu Zhu what??!!??

Friday was the day designated for all of my last minute shopping for Abby's 8th birthday. Lord forbid I actually do something on time or even early, but that's my nature. Procrastination. Plus, Abby is not a tough kid to shop for. She's pretty happy with what she gets.

So, when I asked her this year what she wanted for her birthday, she asked for three things:

1. Baby Alive

2. a Barbie & the Three Musketeers toy

3. Zhu Zhu Pets

On #1 - A $50 baby who pees. Really? You already have dozens of babies and maybe they don't pee after you feed them, but who really needs to have a baby that does that. Some day you will have your fill of diapers.

On #2 - Ugh! Barbie & the Three Musketeers. The most boring movie series ever, but when she started talking about some toy, I blanked out thinking how hard can it be to figure out what she's talking about. It's a toy with the Barbie stuff. Well, me, with my 40 year old eyes, didn't see any spectacular toy which called my name saying "BUY ME BUY ME". So, right now, no Barbie toy.

On #3 - Zhu Zhu pets. I would have thought this would be the easiest purchase in the world. It's a little ugly hamster who zooms around in the tunnels. Of course, it's advertised on NickTV and as a result every parent and child in the that age group knows all about them. Now this is where the eBay s Power Sellers of the world have ruined it for everyone. I went to SEVERAL stores in Peoria and Morton searching for the ugly little rodents, but every where I went the shelves were empty. No ugly hamsters. Lots of accessories, but no ugly hamsters. Every store had a sign "Due to Popular Demand, Please Limit Purchases to 4 per customer per day." That's a bad sign.

When I got home, I checked for the little buggars online only to find them at Amazon.com for $33. WHAT??!?!?! Are you insane? If I could find them in the store, they would cost me $10.99. I check eBay and found the reason for all of the insanity. Every eBay Power Seller has gone out and purchased ALL of the Zhu Zhu ugly hamsters and put them on eBay. I can pay $30-40 per hamster (He!! no!) or pay over $100 for the full set. Who wants to pay $100 for the full set when I'm convinced my daughter will treat it like most other toys and play with them for the first week or two and then leave them on the shelf for the next 6 months.

As a result, I have the Power Shopping Team on the lookout. This team of highly evolved shoppers includes my mother-in-law (the BEST shopper of all), two of my sisters (who would do anything for their dear niece) and 3 of my nieces (who think Black Friday is a day created solely for them to dive through crates to find the desired sale item). Hopefully, we will come up with something. If not, Abby will need to be happy with her Wizards of Waverly Place DS game, some Easy Bake oven supplies and clothes, which will definitely make my Diva Princess happy.