Without a doubt, Amazon.

Hobby Lobby, Michaels, there is another chain my sister goes to in Delaware, all about the same, craft stores. Hobby Lobby usually has a clearance aisle, I hit that first, then only buy what is on sale! They regularly put all the lamps say for 50% off. I didn't shop before or after Christmas either. Didn't send out a single card. Got a good excuse. The house burned up and so did the address books. Not enough insurance, roofers ran off and haven't been seen since. So all our money is going into the house. Noone else in better shape as the REST of the family all flooded during Ike, ours was the only house that didn't flood and the roofers got us. The city of Galveston is making it impossible to finish construction!! Tally HO!

I got out yesterday with a good friend (another "enabler") & got some bargains...ornies at Target 50% off...which is ok by me...cause I buy some for next Christmas' exchanges. And a plaid cotton tablecloth...which will work for red t'scape, too! Ohhh, the Christmas dishware killed me...cookie jars, platters, etc. etc. I love my Winterfrost Pfaltzgraf beautiful Christmas dishes so I left them alone...but had to go back later in the afternoon & buy 4 salad plates & 4 soup/cereal bowls...they were called "Birchwood Chalet" holiday 2010..spent $19. I'll post a link...loved them, of course, cause of the simplicity of pine branches & cones...yikes, I'm "jeannespines," remember! T'scape coming soon! The reason I went bk was meanwhileb at another specialty store I found a beautiful cookie jar ... called Woolrich Winter White...the ladies booth had 50% off everything...so I bought it for $10...thought it would be WONDERFUL with the dishes at Target...so stopped & bought them. But I broke it as I had unloaded to the stairs & knocked over a wonderful "iron" angel I had bought for my gardens...needless to say, I now have a "bowl" ...not a cookie jar! I wanted to cry! So, that was my after Christmas shopping...exchanged a few things...DH got me new flatware & used it on Christmas & it spottted & changed color in dishwasher (altho said dishwasher safe)...they took it back, no problem & I picked out an Oneida Portfolio "Tortola." ... washed a place setting last night in dishwasher & came out fine.... Ok, I'm rattling on too much...been w/o good Internet contact over the holidays...now is fixed by Qwest & phone lines, too! Happy New Year! Jeanne S. Here is a link that might be useful: Target Birchwood Chalet

((((HUGS)))) Unfortunately, even on "nice" boards, there are times when claws, or just schadenfreude, come out. :( It's very sad, and I'm so sorry you've felt people being mean to you. I know it doesn't help at all to think "it's about them" when you were looking for a "safe" (or as safe as a public forum can be) place to discuss a delicate subject. ((((HUGS)))) States complain about lost revenue from sales taxes not being recouped, but they don't complain about the amount of commerce in general, even if it's the gas spent by the delivery trucks. When they start discussing this on the Federal level (interstate commerce), and start thinking about levying tax on internet purchase (other than the instate tax that people are used to paying), there's such an uproar, and the constituencies, both sellers and buyers, are so upset, that they drop it. The world is changing, and it's taking some time for people and modalities to catch up. Sometimes it's easier to buy a roll of masking tape online than have to hike around a big box store looking for it. People don't do that to avoid the tax! Still, sales tax is regressive. People with the least money spend the largest portion of their incomes on sales tax. They order out of state, take trips into bordering states that have no sales tax, into bordering countries where they have no tax or give it back, etc., etc. Sales tax is onerous. It's always been the law in most places that collect sales tax that you have to pay it on things brought in from out of state. In my state, it has mostly been enforced on really big items like cars. Unfortunately, a new kitchen is pretty much the equivalent of a car. But if it's in the news about your state collecting on Income Tax filings, and you've received a phone call immediately after, I agree it's probably a scam. And I agree that you would most likely have received a form letter rather than a phone call. In fact, the normal way it should happen is that first you'd receive a form letter from your state's revenue agency telling you that you were obliged to report, and then if you didn't report and they had reason to think you should have, they'd send a reminder of the things you should have reported and an option to pay the back taxes plus interest. Then you'd receive a form letter telling you about a hearing scheduled. And on like that. If your friend received a call, it should have been a recording. Live person calls are too expensive for chasing a pittance (and the amount of tax owed, even if your friend's new kitchen is even nicer than yours, is a pittance to the state coffers). You could check with the department of frauds to see if this is a known scam, and a lawyer to see if it's possibly real.