if you haven't seen it, click here to see JibJab's BIG BOX MART (if servers are busy due to high volume, keep trying, it's worth it) parody of the Wal-Mart chain. no matter how you feel about the retail giant you are sure to laugh. you know, i used to be a fan of Wal-Mart years ago. Yep, everything costs less and it's all under one roof - so i'd deal with the lines and all the other negatives to save a buck and fill my house with schtuff i really didn't need until i saw it on the shelves of Wally World cheap.
with age, hopefully comes "wisdom". hopefully. my enlightment came a couple years ago and now you need to pay me to shop at "The World". i have 4 Wal-Mart stores within a 30 mile radius, one 5 minutes from my domicile and parking just plain sucks - at all of them all the time. it takes at least 20 minutes of aggressive isle surfing just to hunt down a spot. last year someone got stabbed in the parking lot fighting over a space. that should tell you about the state of the nation.
well once you get past the parking lot, assuming you've made it that far, it's time to shop. sure prices are cheap. i can buy nearly twice as much food and merchandise at Wal-Mart than at any other grocery store or retail outlet. on a rare occasion i may "stoop". but no more. the aggro isn't worth the money. the merchandise has consistently declined in quality. both the "hired help" and the shopping clientele generally seem to look like extra's from the movie "Deliverance" (at least in the metro NY area). there are NEVER enough registers open and so if you save $15 to $20 off your shopping haul, you are waiting at least a half an hour to 45 minutes on the check out line, even in the express lane where I'm saving pennies on the dollar.
in today's busy world, my time is worth at least $20 an hour, so in the end it's no savings at all. putting aside any moral or political objections (or lack thereof) to Wal-Mart, just from an everyday time-is-money and overall shopping experience perspective, i've seen the light. i've been healed. my Wal-Mart addiction has ended. my house seems less cluttered and my change purse is a little lighter. but i've found a new retail addiction, now that they've finally opened in NY state. TARGET [pronounced tar-jay]. you know the "upscale" version of cheap mass retail, LOL. clean. fair priced. earth conscious. creative. innovative. relatively well constructed items. nice shopping environment. always enough registers open - and they still manage to turn a profit. how 'bout them apples??? it's worth the extra money and the time savings. i've joined the ranks of the Wal-Mart bashers. i'm starting my own Wal-Mart Anonymous 12-step group. anyone interested, sign up here!
DOES SHE SHOP AT WAL-MART?
so, you must have heard about the story of the woman who just had her 16th child, right? Have you seen the pictures of mom and family? If you haven't, just peruse the story HERE. first, let me say she and her family seem like real fine folk. i happened to catch them on TV this morning and her 16 kids were AMAZINGLY well behaved (everyone commented on it later) and she was one of those exceptionally sweet, soft-spoken, patient types (you'd have to be to have 16 kids and consider more, right?) who handles everything with aplomb and probably rarely raises her voice. order and organization rule the day and her kids are the single focus of her life. very little else matters and the self contained family unit is the end all and be all for them, just like in days gone by. she manages her household (no mention of any outside help, but who knows) and home schools them all with a very full circulum, starting early in the morning and ending late in the afternoon, including violin and piano (or some such). she appears the definition of a true "sweetheart" in the fullest sense of the word. I give her lots of credit, although I would never aspire to be like her. i like my chaotic life and inquisitive, multi-layered, edgy and explorative nature, warts and all, although I find she and her family an interesting study.
she reminds me of Maria from The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins - with no fashion sense and poorly coiffed. indulge me in a moment of further snarkiness, (oh, it's soooooooo hard for me to be snarky!) and let me say that her hair-do (and that of most of her girls) could make top 10 on Rate My Mullet.com. (i don't know if that look is "out" where she resides). there are only a few places left in the USA where you can actually afford 16 children and not be a multi-millionaire (maybe they are, and she's just not into fashion?) and Arkansas, where they live, certainly would make that short list. her husband, JIM BOB, who despite looking "dorky" certainly isn't homely. he states he works "in real estate" and has a government position, and even had a failed bid for senate a couple years back. probably pretty good money for anywhere, no less Arkansas. must explain how the heck they can build a 7,000 square foot home with 9 bathrooms and commercial kitchen with all the whistles and bells and drive a mini bus to transport their kids.
I don't know if a life of perpetual pregnancy (evenif you NEVER have to update your wardrobe, and that's pretty apparant) is appealing to 99.9% of the female populace (or to the male populace for that matter), and I can't even fathom what kind of mindset you have to have to find that desirable (not to mention comfortable or attractive). i know there are some gifted folk who adopt or give foster homes to handicapped children and that too is amazing, but they didn't actually carry and give birth to them all! she and her husband bill themselves as "real thrifty" (except when it comes to their less than humble new abode with all the trimmings) and their children and mom wear only thrift store clothes. i could see her sewing clothes for the kids out of old curtains and the kids enjoying them as much as the VonTrapps. (Dad is the only one who appears to shop retail.) Boy, try getting away with THAT for "kid style" in the new york metro area or on the west coast! If only...
well I guess stories like this make some of us feel insufficient, disorganized, self absorbed as it's a struggle to handle just a few, no less 16, and do it well. not me! i remain unapologetic for having kids that are not always the picture perfect behavior, for being somewhat of a fashionista, for having my hair meticulously cut, dyed and highlighted every few weeks, for manicures, for shopping GAP, TCP, Old Navy and better department stores for my kids. I'm glad to be interested in intellectual pursuits, art and entertainment, cultural affairs, etc. is my family any worse off in the long run? i doubt it. do I think their family's lifestyle choices are any better or worse than mine? no. to each their own. i just find the regional differences and mindset of people with a more unusual lifestyle facinating and worthy of a little examination for the sake of sociology and lifestyle comparison. i know neither of us would ever want to trade. my only remaining question? does she ever shop at Wal-Mart?
-javajane
(ps. please don't get on me about being a NY and poking fun at Arkansas and what have you...part of this is about HUMOR! word.)
