I have a confession to make.

Hi, my name is Stacy, and I love Wal-Mart. I know. I know. It feels so wrong. And yet every time I breeze through the sliding doors and into that shiny, fluorescent, mass-retail wonderland I get a little bit giddy. It all started in college, you see. I grew up in a suburb where there was no Wal-Mart (can you imagine such a place? Well, neither could Wal-Mart, 'cause they've gone and built two within a 10 mile radius of my hometown). When I went away for my freshman year (at a totally awesome liberal arts school that nothing will ever compare to) in a small rural town, pretty much the only thing we had was Wal-Mart. (And bars.) Going there was a totally viable and acceptable suggestion of something to do. You could IM your friends, who were probably sitting in the dorm room next door:
"hey, what r u doing right now?"
"nothing"
"want 2 go 2 wal-mart?"

And thus my love affair with this evil giant began. I totally understand the argument for supporting small/locally-owned businesses, and I try to do so whenever I can, honestly. Heck, my husband works for a small, locally-owned business and where would we be without his wonderful boss and the company he has built? But, I also enjoy saving money. Yes, I feel a (somewhat large) pang of guilt when I stop to consider the fact that I'm possibly saving money at the expense of someone who is working long hours for unfair wages somewhere in Asia (and taking jobs out of the US while they're at it). But take, for example, Sweets' new convertible carseat. I spent many, many hours researching and price-shopping for the model I decided on. I had a giftcard to one retailer that I intended to use towards the carseat, until I checked wallyworld.com and found that, even with the giftcard, I'd be paying $50 more to buy it from the other store. $50! That's not small change, people. Throw in the free shipping from Wal-Mart and you just can't beat the savings, unfortunately.

As if the low prices aren't enough to suck me in, there's also the fact that Wal-Mart has every.thing. It's one-stop shopping and that suits my lifestyle at this moment in time. If I need laundry detergent, a lemon, a plunger, mineral spirits, a paintbrush, sippy cups and a shower curtain liner, I can get it all and be out the door in 20 minutes or less (depending on the cashier ;). Today I just needed laundry detergent, but Sweets and I took a quick spin through the baby section and couldn't resist a couple of bargain buys:

Um, hello tiny cowboy boots. $3 on the clearance rack!

Come fall, Sweetie Pea is going to be the cutest little bear around, no?

But I want you to rest assured that no matter what your opinion of Wal-Mart is, this will never, ever, ever be me: