Now that I sit down to write, I realize that this weekend was awesome!
We went to the movies. We read a lot. We watched tv (mindlessly--my favorite way). We went to church. We went to a spaghetti dinner at church and won a bottle of ketchup in a Let's Make a Deal game. We had friends over for dinner. We rode bikes. We had hot chocolate. We baked. We ate egg-rolls our friends made and gifted us--sa-weet! We crock-potted. We ate Krispy Kreme donuts. We listened to satellite radio. Dave and J played catch. Dave and J weeded the yard. The girls made bean and glue art (ode to Kindergarten). We played with the pets. We played with Webkins. We listened to Jason Mraz really LOUD.
AND
As all good middle-class Americans, we went to the new neighborhood Walmart. . .
which leads me to the next thing we did this weekend.
We went to the PETA website and opened up a whole can of worms for ourselves.
Here's how we got in this pickle:
You see, we went to Walmart to get a SpotBot--to clean our carpets if there's a spill (that's code for pet accident). At Target, the SpotBot is about $140.00. At Walmart, the same product is $117.00. Is it possible that the prices at Walmart are that low? Yes, they are. In nearly every department the prices are just insanely low (relative to other stores in the area).
Perhaps you've all noticed this before? Sorry, I've been out of the loop.
But, back to my story. Those low-low prices got me in a shopping frenzy.
If the SpotBot was this cheap, maybe a rack of ribs would be, too?
You know what, they were. Seven dollars cheaper than the same ribs at the local grocery store or Costco.
So, of course I bought them. (As our friend Chelene said, "I would have lost money NOT buying them.")
But after slow-cooking those bad-boys for HOURS, I came to this conclusion:
1. Those ribs were SO TOUGH, we couldn't serve them.
2. I don't think Walmart buys their meat/poultry/seafood from free range "farms" (or farms at all).
I write this not to blast Walmart or encourage anyone to visit the PETA site. Well, okay, maybe to do that just a little. But really, I write this because for a long time I've wondered how Walmart's prices are so dang low. I've read little articles here and there. And I've read "Fast Food Nation." But really, I just kind of filed any accusations or negative press about "bad Walmart" stories in my "oh, well, that's the way life is" category.
You see, I think I'm a bit of a walking contradiction. I want to do good. I try to make decisions that aren't just for my benefit, but for the big picture that is life. Sometimes (okay, most of the time) I fail miserably and still put myself first. But overall, I really do try try try to make the best decisions I can--decisions that consider all people/animals/life, not just ME ME ME ME ME.
And yet, when it comes to eating and buying consumer goods, I'm torn.
Low prices benefit me and my family. But in order to get those low prices, I think sometimes some business have to make concessions. They cut costs in places I may never ever consider--in places that sometimes (not always, I know) disrespect and/or abuse people and/or animals.
I know. There's propaganda on all sides of an issue.
But isn't there a quote somewhere that says, "when you know better, you do better?" (Maya Angelou?)
I feel like in my life so far, I have pretty much negotiated through issues like this one and just kind of thrown up my arms and said, "oh, well, that's life."
But I don't know if I can/should do that anymore?
See the kind of she-nann-igans a three-day weekend gets me into?
