LinkedIn Endorsements are totally bogus

I'm going to say it like I mean it... the endorsements on LinkedIn are totally bogus. There is no vetting to the endorsement. I get a box at the top of my profile asking me to endorse other people for skills that they've listed they have. I only endorse people that I have actually worked with in the capacity that the skill set was used for - so an endorsement from me is valid. When another parent from our elementary that I barely know that has connected with me on LinkedIn then endorses me for my Progress 4GL Programming knowledge - which I haven't even used in the past 10 years and have only know the person for the past 6 years since we moved to the Metro, I have to wonder what they think they are doing. Does this person even know what Progress 4GL is? Why are they endorsing me for a platform they know nothing about. Seriously! I do like when former bosses, co-workers and peers in the industry endorse my skills as they actually know what I'm capable of. I'm even ok with the elementary parent endorsing me for things like social media content, project management, organizational skills or other similar skill that they could feel they've seen because of the different volunteer duties I've taken on within our community. I do a lot for several different organizations. Especially the eNewsletters with Constant Contact and Social Media stuff. So I get that. But not them endorsing me for my db admin, programming or sys admin stuff. Come on! Since this bugs me so much, for my part I am very, very stingy with the endorsements I do. I want them to have actual value and meaning. I think I am alone in this though. So... I say to you all - when on LinkedIn please only do legitimate endorsements!!!

For those that do not know what LinkedIn is, it is essentially the professional connection equivalent to Facebook. It used to be a much more professional networking location that gave some insight to someone you were doing business with, looking to hire or peripherally connected to professionally. Now it allows people to do status updates and blog posts lessening it's value. And did I mention the bogus endorsements?

Gone for a while

I've been gone for a while.  I honestly had nothing to say.  My life was consumed by food issues and in the middle of it was a little ticked off at God for doing this to my youngest son.  Didn't necessarily what to share my nasty blasphemy... Well, we are on the other side of all this now.  I get it, I manage it, my kiddo is safe and happy and good to go.  I also realized that my anger was very, very misplaced and am very thankful that God could handle the misdirected anger and still love me in the end.  In the middle of it all, I've had several people ask me why I wasn't blogging anymore.  I didn't know I'd be missed...

So, since you asked for it... you've got it - I'm back and will start spewing my rant-y attitude again!

Much love,
Little Miss Rant :)

Late Night Texting

As I am sitting at my laptop working on a weekly eNews that I send for our elementary PTA... into my inbox pops the funniest message EVER!

Mr. Cheerful sent the following message to Mr. Chatterbox but accidentally put me on it too:

We should use e-mailing like texting to communicate but you'll need to be patient while the other person is emailing and tell me you are getting off and delete these as soon as you get them so we don't get in trouble NO SWEARING.

I am cracking up that Mr. Cheerful wants his big brother to not be a potty mouth    and slightly disturbed that the little turd thinks he can cover his tracks by deleting his e-mails.  I'm SOOO not telling either of them about the Sent Mail folder or reminding them that I have the password to their e-mail accounts!  

I replied:

Did you mean to send this to me too?  

You guys should TOTALLY use email to communicate back and forth (just like texting except that it's FREE!!!! whereas texting is not free!) - but not when you are supposed to be in bed sleeping.  

And you don't have to delete them because you won't get in trouble for e-mailing back and forth (because it is FREE!!!) - that's why you both have e-mail accounts.  You will only get in trouble if you are doing it when you shouldn't be - like 1/2 hour after I've sent you to bed.  Doing it when you are supposed to be in bed will result in all electronic devices being put in the kitchen, not just phones. 

And I agree - no potty mouths.  Filthy mouths will be cleaned with Disney soap. 

Love, 

Mommy 

OOOOOHHHHHH! I just can't stop laughing.  It is moments like this that I truly love being a mom and getting to see how their minds and personalities work.  Most important thing I took away from all this though... my boys are wanting to connect with each other and I far prefer that to the fighting!

I should probably explain the "Filthy mouths will be cleaned with Disney Soap" comment...  

Mr. Chatterbox is having the traditional middle school boy trying to navigate his way in the world and figure out what is cool (and not) and push any (and every) boundary he encounters.  His language has left much to be desired.  About 6 months ago after a rather awful spewing of sewage I took one of the leftover Mickey Mouse imprinted Disney Resort Soaps out of it's wrapper and had Mr. Chatterbox lather it up then put it in his mouth for 10 seconds (YES - I stole the idea from A Christmas Story!!! I'm sure that is where my parents got it when they had to do the same to me!!!).  He found it disgusting.  I was traumatized by the torturing of my son (or moreso his over-dramatized reaction to said torture that wrenched at my heart) and in a moment of brilliance (yes... yes, I did go there and called myself brilliant!  Just run with it for now, I'm sure we will have a plethora of opportunities in future posts to prove that I'm really not.  So just for now... let me feel that that moment in time WAS brilliant!) realized that I had an opportune moment to prevent it from ever happening again - I took the sucked upon soap and put it in a ziplock baggie that says "A filthy mouth gets cleaned" and then duct taped it to his wall right by his door so that he could see it, be reminded of it and hopefully make better choices later.  (Truth be told, I was hoping it would serve as a deterent for purely selfish reasons as if I have to put the soap in his mouth again his over-dramatized reaction WILL make me cry!)

It hasn't quite had the effect that I wanted (as evidenced by his little brother not wanting him to cuss in e-mails - but in his moments of doing it in front of me, all I have to do is raise one eyebrow and point at the bag (if in proximity) or say "A filthy mouth gets cleaned with Disney Soap" and he starts filtering his language.  

Not sure this was the marketing Disney had in mind for their resort soaps... but it's working for our Happy family!

Ready for the Holidays?

It sounds like  most everyone is feeling that they aren't ready for the holidays this year.  Being an over-achiever, in the past I was able to keep up with stuff like that and wasn't able to commiserate with the non-stay at home moms with the balance they weren't achieving (mind you, I wasn't judging though... I tried to never be one of those moms and attempted to always be supportive - if that's not the case I really wish someone would have told me if I was being intolerable!!!).  Now that I'm back at work (and even 2 1/2 years past going back to work, it still seems like a new thing!), I find that balance is not so easy to attain and totally get how hard it is not having a bunch of daytime hours to manage my time with.  So, I thought I would make everyone who's feeling behind get a glimpse at how horribly I'm doing so that they might not feel so bad about their own list.  Doesn't that always work... "I'm doing awful, but hey Susie Que over there is doing so much worse so it doesn't seem so bad..."

So...  let's get real about how the holiday's are panning out in Happyville...

Chanukah started on Saturday December 8th.  In the middle of a meeting on Thursday, December 6th where the speaker had a heavy accent that no one could understand (you don't even want to start me on this rant... I know we need to be pc about cultural diversity, but when you are so insistent on not even attempting to be understood it seems like a really bad career choice to go into public speaking.  Okay... I said it.  Go ahead and rant back at me about how totally un-politically correct that statement was!) my mind started to wander and it suddenly hit me... holy menorah batman!...  Chanukah was due to start on Saturday.  A day and a half away Saturday.  Oy vey... a day and a half away SATURDAY!

• Chanukah Presents:  Thanks to Mr. Happy being in town, his total obsession with CostCo and my love of Barnes and Nobles... we got presents cranked out in a few hours that evening.
• Chanukah Candles: On Friday Mr. Happy counted the candles for my and Little Miss Sassy Pants' menorahs and found that we had enough leftovers from previous years to hodge podge our way through most of Chanukah.  He then stopped by the temple and picked up a couple boxes for us on Saturday since he was on that side of town at a xcSki Coaches training.

At that point I was thinking... WOW! We pulled that off without a hitch and the kid's will never know how unorganized I've become since going back to work (again... at 2 1/2 years is this allowed to be considered a growing pain?).  And then last night... Mr. Chatterbox asks 'when are we going to eat the Chanukah food?'.  

• Chanukah Food: Holy Blintzes Batman!  I forgot about our tradition of eating potato latkes with apple sauce, blintzes with sour cream and cherries, sufganoit (jelly-filled donuts) - all of which are fried in OIL! - and flourless chocolate cake that we have on the first night of Chanukah.  And then, let's not forget... the homemade challah bread that Mr. Happy started making when we couldn't find it anywhere without annatto (Mr. Cheerful's first anaphylactic allergy (we have a new one... the pepper family (as in bell, chili, banana, jalepeno, etc. - but I'm not ready to talk about that yet!)) that we use for french toast the following morning (as in first morning of Chanukah).  I've obviously strayed far, far away from my Jewish heritage to have forgotten about the FOOD!  So.. Mr. Happy to the rescue (again!!! - and he's not got a lick of Judaism in him!!!)... he's back in town today and is going to call around to see if there are any Jewish deli's or bakeries that have gluten-free, annatto-free, pepper family-free (*bleh to that mouthful, from this point forward in this post we shall refer to it as GF, AF, PF (not to be confused with MF... which I really feel like spewing right now, but I'm a lady so I won't say it!  Yea... just run with the idea of me not having a horrid potty mouth, okay?) blintzes, latkes, challah, etc. as a save for tonight.  Mostly likely, the reality is that we are either not going to do the food this year or I'm going to spend significant time Saturday (last day of Chanukah) attempting to turn all my from-scratch recipes into Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour recipes!  I'm sure that I will manage this on the first pass and it will all turn out amazingly yummy.  *snort*  

Side note:  This Chanukah I'm beginning to wonder if Mr. Happy is paying people to distract me so that he can keep save the day.  He has been AMAZING.  You should want for a husband as awesome as this.  But I still wonder if he's paying people so I will appreciate him more! *grin*

And then there are the GF, AF, PF* @ School Holiday items that I need to purchase or order.  There is the pizza party followed by an ice cream sundae bar on Thursday and the gingerbread houses making on Friday.  My list includes:

• Ordering a GF, AF Pizza from Dominos to be delivered at the same time as the rest of the 4th grades order.  I thought I was ahead of the game in knowing that Dominos already has a GF, AF option.  Now I have to go back and check the ingredients in the sauce to make sure that none of the pepper  family (again... of the bell, jalapeno, banana, etc. variety, not black) is making it spicy!  So... uncheck that one...
• For the Sundae Bar we need Oreos and Vanilla Ice Cream.  I've got the GF Oreos by Kinnikinnick (one of our favs!) and have the AF Vanilla Ice Cream from Izzy's on the list for this weekend's errands.
• I'm started on the GF, AF (and now PF) gingerbread (which are really graham cracker) houses, in that I've already purchased the Kinnikinnick (need to buy stock in them and in Udi's!) Graham Crackers, I know where I can get the GF, AF Pretzel Rods and we have a can of AF White Frosting as a backup in case I can't find white in the whipped variety without it having the generic 'color added' in the ingredients (3 brands so far are a bust so far).  I'm going to take a look at the GF food store where I'm getting the pretzel rods this weekend.  Beyond that, I'm not sure how much energy I will put into this before e-mailing the teacher my dilemma about my child having the wrong kind of frosting - but they had whipped underlined on the letter that came home, so I need to give it a bit more of a try before admitting defeat! 

All said and done though, I'm thinking the school food issue isn't all that behind... but... 

Did anyone remember that I have two kids with Birthdays on December 23rd?  Except... we are celebrating my, Little Miss Sassy Pants and Mr. Cool's birthday's this weekend!  Yikes!  Okay... actually, that was just dramatic effect.  We already have birthday presents.  Our only 're-org' is that I now have to work on a restaurant option that is also PF, I already had GF, AF options.  I'm thinking I will call tomorrow (Saturday) morning since we are planning to go out Saturday night.  That doesn't seem procrastinated at all, does it?

There are many staple Holiday Traditions that we have...

• Holiday lights are Mr. Happy's passion and in true Griswald fashion, he's already got stuff on the house, in the front yard, and back yard, and on the deck, possibly in the neighbors yard (okay, well, not really, but it sounded funny, didn't it?).  Again with Mr. Happy being on the ball and me not.  Pisses me off, you know?  (Ha, ha and HA... there comes that potty mouth).
• Big 4 and ABC Family Holiday shows... we've watched Blake Shelton sing, Michael Buble sing, Frosty get married, Kris Kringle get married, Kevin McAllister get left home alone and Buddy find out he isn't really an elf.  DVR'd and waiting for us are several more of the classic animatronic (? is that right, I don't think it's claymation, but maybe?) the Year w/o Santa, Miser Brothers, etc.  So I think we are in good shape on this one.  Yes, let's not discuss that I don't have any of the things I need to do on my errands list done but we've watched lots of TV.  I already know I suck as a real mom, I just play a good one on TV!
• We've been trying to get to Holidazzle and the Macy's animatronics show (this time I know I'm using the right word) since the first weekend in December but just haven't been able to make it work with schedules yet (really... why can't they do it EVERY night instead of just the weekends?).  Might end up not going AGAIN this year.  Makes it not much of a tradition, eh?  Poor Mr. Cheerful, he's getting really ripped off when you compare his childhood to his older siblings who had me as a stay-at-home mom that made everything happen without a hitch!
• Homemade Martha Stewart quality family time crafts.  'nuf said.  That's just not going to happen!  (It didn't happen at Halloween or Thanksgiving either... for the past 2 1/2 years, ya know?)
• Holiday Card.  We probably just shouldn't talk about this.  We haven't even taken a family photo yet.  We are planning to this weekend when Mr. Cool is here, but seriously... no photo yet totally translates then to the ordering of cards and mailing not done either.  What waas that?  Holiday letter?  Well... last year I did a Wordle because I ran so late.  Tacky to do that two years in a row?  And I feel bad about this because cards have been trickling in since Thanksgiving and my friends all have such amazing photos and letters.  I used to love this!  You know, back when I was stay-at-home and had an hour or so to work on stuff.  (Wait, what is that - how long did it take me to write this blog instead of doing something useful?  *feigns innocence* I don't know) 
• Conversation about the Christian aspects of Christmas... done!  Thanks to the lovely conversation Mr. Cheerful and I had about Santa (see said conversation here)
• Tree... Not yet cut, let alone placed or decorated.  On this weekend's list.  Seriously, who needs tinsel  and broken bulbs this early?
• Presents... Thanks to Mr. Happy making me go to Black Friday sales Thursday night (!?! Can it still be called black Friday when it's Thursday night?) we are mostly done.  (I.can't.believe.he.has.made.me.go.to.Black.Friday.on.Thursday.Night.two.years.in.a.row - Ugh!)  So really, now it's just the last minute pull it all out and see if we short-changed anyone then dash out to balance the loot.
• Except then there are the presents for the extended family... a few years ago we did a homemade gift that went over well.  I thought we'd do it again.  Mr. Happy (darn him!) has already bought the ingredients, errr... I mean components if you are one of my extended family reading this - components gives nothing away! *grin*... but they are sitting on the table waiting to be, um... assembled.  Yep, that's it... assembled is what we are doing to the components this weekend.  And then since Mr. Happy is off for the next 2 1/2 weeks (double darn him) he can mail it all on Monday.

Whew... anyone else tired just thinking about this?  Sounds like I have a lot to do this weekend, eh?  Are you feeling better about how much you've already got done yet?  If not, I could make some more ridiculous holiday tasks for myself ensuring a mental breakdown before I turn 43 (which would actually solve my holiday problem since my birthday is 3 days BEFORE Christmas!)...

Put the boy in a bubble?

I've decided that it is time to home school.  That way my children will never, ever, ever have contact with any other child ever again!*  At school, some other mother's child felt the need to tell Mr. Cheerful that Santa is not real**.  So, like any predatory creature, he chose to come to the weakest member of the herd.  Me.  As he knows that if he asked Mr. Happy, Mr. Happy would lie to him (a fact which I think Mr. Happy is actually proud of!  Yeah, yeah... all you dad's unite on that being a good trait...).  The conversation started like this "You know how you've promised to never lie to me?".  Seriously... I knew right in that moment that whatever was to come next was NOT going to be good for me and that I was totally screwed!  He then followed with so-and-so told me that Santa isn't real and he wanted to know the truth.  I did the 'what do you think's' and 'I believe in Santa' (keyword being believe - which is not a lie!).  He saw the subterfuge of my attempts to divert and not answer, so he persisted with his own 'really, squeezes into a tube?', 'hits a gazillion houses on one night', 'has reindeer that fly', etc..  Ultimately, after wearing me down (a trait he has learned well from Mr. Happy.  Yeah, yeah... dad's uniting again on this being a good thing...), I finally answered that no, not really.  As the tears welled up in his eyes I was crushed - I'd just taken the magic away from my child.  I apologized for telling him the truth and that I wished I could have lied to him but felt a little trapped because he's started the conversation with making me promise I wouldn't.  To this, he got really, really mad at me and said that he wasn't crying because the magic was gone, he was crying because I've been lying to him for YEARS.  Years.  Yikes!  I think I would have preferred the loss of magic!  The conversation then progressed to the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Elves, Fairies, Rudolph and Reindeer.  Thinking that was a segue to redeeming myself I pounced on the reindeer aspect - as I was able to point out several zoos in which he has seen reindeer with his own eyes.  Unfortunately, he saw through that one too and somewhat condescendingly said 'yes mom, but they don't fly'.  Ugh!

Which leaves me with our Christmas traditions being based on a lie, instead of magical.  He might not believe anymore, but I think I need to.  I need for there to still be gifts from Santa.  I need us to put sparkly oats on the lawn so that the flying reindeer will see them from the sky and land on our lawn to eat them.  And then Santa can squeeze through the dryer vent to get in our house since we don't have a fireplace and we needed an orifice from the outside to the inside for Santa to squeeze into!  Laugh all you want, but how did you explain, on the spot, to a toddler how Santa gets in the house?  I need us to sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn, darn it!  Because if we don't, the realities of having a high schooler, middle schooler and upper elementary child are going to come crashing in really, really hard!  And seriously,  Mr. Cool isn't married yet and Little Miss Sassy Pants is WAY too young, so it's not like any grandchildren are coming along any time soon for me to lie to!  Wow... I'm now looking forward to lying to little children! What is next in the degradation of my life?

So, while I'm not actually serious about homeschooling my children (I mean seriously - they are in AP courses, Advanced Courses and the Gifted and Talented program - you think that would, or could, have happened if I was homeschooling them?***),  this would, in part, be a public service for all other mom's as my kid is now that 'other mother's child' that is probably telling all his friends the truth about their parents lying to them for years on end since birth.  Ugh again!

Notes:

* Homeschooling Moms:Don't get your knickers in a bunch!  NO!  I do not think that you shelter your children from other kids.  Frankly, I personally think you probably do a better job of social interactions for your kids than I do for mine.  This is meant to be humorous, not a personal attack, so take the chip off your shoulder and look for the humor because I think you guys are great and admirable in what you are doing!!!

** For all my fanatic Christian friends (you know you are but I still love you anyways...), Christmas for us IS about Christ's birth.  Same as Chanukah is a Festival of Lights and in no way goes against Christ or my now being Christian so we still celebrate it to honor the traditions by which I was raised.  And while Mr. Happy (who is a borderline fanatic Christian! *grin*) and I do make sure that our kids know that Christmas is about Christ, we do also still have the magic of Santa (which story has it was acting in honor of Christ's birth), Rudolph, Reindeer and other elements of 'mainstream' Christmas infused into our Holidays.  To say it's about Christ's birth period is wonderful for your family, but it doesn't make my family any less Christian just because we choose to have the magic woven in as well.

***This is a reflection on my abilities, not an attack on homeschooling.  From what I hear, your kids score much higher than district kids on standardized tests, ACT and SAT's.  Again, meant to be humorous and totally about me stunting my children's intellectual capacity if they were reliant on me as the sole source of brain nutrition!

Additional Note: I find it very sad what society has done to women in that I feel that I have to do these disclaimers as everyone is so incredibly hyper-sensitive.  What happened to women  bringing each other up, supporting the personal choices we make and not taking everything personal as it most likely wasn't intended that way.  I think there should be no more finger-pointing, no more misconstruing of comments and all women should be confident in their choices and supportive of each other!!!  But... that is a whole different rant!!!

BUSTED!

I was so busted tonight...

So... I have this amazing new (used) car.  We call it The Dolphin, because it's color is Dolphin Grey.  It seemed more fitting than Flipper, so just go with it!  It's got this AMAZING sound system.  After years and years of the old crickety (but I still love you and miss you ol' buddy, ol' pal) Saab that didn't get overly loud and seemed to only emanate sound from the dashboard (even though there were speakers all around...) - the volume of the Dolphin's sound and how the surround totally envelopes me in noise from every angle is just so wickedly cool.  I, admittedly, crank that baby up when I'm driving alone with the top down going (limiting myself to -- that is a whole different blog about how much power this car has and the overwhelming urge daily to just let it go to its full potential but because of my stupid black and white, rule obeying mentality can't...) 70 on the freeway.  Tonight, however, I'm driving into the garage and my (right-now) favorite song Madness by Muse comes on.  Seriously?  How could I NOT crank that up to see how amazing IT would sound in my new (used) car!?!  So... I did.  

So here is your mental picture, 42 year old MOM of 2-4 kids (2 affected my body, all 4 affect my heart) with the tunes blaring, eyes closed, dancing my heart out (while still strapped in the seatbelt - I mean, REALLY, you would think that I could have at least unbuckled!) and 'singing' (we will call it that anyways...) at the top of my lungs.  

And then I opened my eyes.  And there he was.  Mr. Cheerful.  Standing in the open doorway between the house and the garage staring at me.  My eyes met his eyes... his eyes met my eyes.. and I'm not sure which one of us was more embarrassed.  He, with flippin' amazing speed that I never see when there is a chore to be done, did an about-face and hauled arse back into the house.  I, promptly, turned off my car and slowly came inside to witness him giving a pretty accurate, but horrifying to realize he'd seen me jamming in my driver's seat for that long, demo to Mr. Happy of my car dancing.

Joy!

Buy Local, Buy Artisan, Buy Small, Buy Independent

There is a lot of 'buy' this way phrases being thrown around as the holiday season starts (which seriously?  lights already?  We haven't even had Thanksgiving!  Just stop it already and wait until Black Friday to put up your flippin' lights!!!) which puts me into one of my regular rants.  I'm with buy local as it helps the financial status of your local community.  I'm with buy artisan as I would far rather have a product produced by an individual than mass manufactured in China.  When feasible, I'm with buy small and buy independent   But here's the deal... the moment you couple that with not the big box stores or chains you've lost me.  The reason being... the majority of those big box stores and chains started as the little guy.  They started small.  If you personally have a ban on all things imported and are only buying American - then I'm right back with you.  But if you are just against the guy that marketed his idea and grew, then you are forgetting that it started with one guy with a great idea.  Add to that that he wouldn't have made it big if we, as consumers, hadn't supported the idea and helped it come to fruition.  The dilemma also comes from a 'buy now' mentality.  I admit... I tend to be guilty of this one.  I go to my local, independent bookseller to pick up a book that my kids needs for extra credit at school and they don't have it.  They could order it for me but it will be a week before it gets in.  I go to Barnes and Noble and they not only have it, but I had the option of reserving it online first so noone else got to it before me.  Add to that a nice Starbuck's drink and I'm kinda in heaven.  I have no doubt that  the vein at Mr. Grumble's temple just started to throb.  He loves the independent bookseller.  Here's my thing though... Barnes and Noble started as one guy who thought he could do it better:

"Leonard Riggio, the company's chairman, began his bookselling career while attending New York University in the early 1960s.  Working as a clerk in the university bookstore, he became convinced that he could do a better job serving students, and he opened a competing store of his own.  With a small investment, Mr. Riggio established the Student Book Exchange (SBX) in Manhattan's Greenwich Village in 1965.  The store quickly became one of New York’s finest bookstores, known for its knowledgeable staff, wide selection and great service.

By the 1970s, Mr. Riggio’s thriving business, which included six other college bookstores, acquired the flagship Barnes & Noble trade name and flagship bookstore in Manhattan, which had fallen into decline. Within a few years, Mr. Riggio transformed the Fifth Avenue store into "The World’s Largest Bookstore," with 150,000 textbook and trade titles." (http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/history/bn_history.html)  

This creates the dilemma... am I not allowed to buy from Barnes and Noble because Riggio did a better job, such a better job that Barnes and Noble is now the largest bookseller?  Or is it okay because at one point he was the independent guy with a stellar customer service credo and by having an entrepreneurial spirit he now employs ALOT of people thereby doing good for the local community through gainful employment and its benefits.  You don't even want to start me on the community service projects and donations this company does.  It is one of many big box or chain retailers that started as one guy.  McDonalds and Walmart are a couple more examples of US Companies that hire thousands of workers.  Often times having a much better, longer term career than they would have had elsewise.

Walmart, as one example, is an American company, hiring American, usually local, employees, is on the NY Stock Exchange that allows American individuals to own and profit from it's success.  And again... another story of a local guy, Sam Walton, who thought he could do better.  Chains like McDonalds, Wendy's, Dairy Queen, Chipotle and Subway allows the local guy franchisee ability of a company with a formula that's already a proven success and brand name recognition.

That said, yes... Walmart imports and sells a whole of of cheap 'Made in NOT America'... crap.  So... if you have the principles of only buying American (or are anti-import, anti-China, anti-Child Labor, etc.) - then don't shop there.  My only caveat to that is to ask... does that local merchant you are buying from based on your anti-import stance stand on the same principles.  While you are feeling good about yourself for buying American, or buying local, or buying independent - if you went into that merchants backroom or home will you find nothing but local, independent and America? And, if you are championing the local merchant loudly - then don't show up at IKEA and then attempt to defend or justify it somehow.

Plus, another reality is that alot of people can't afford to buy elsewhere, so as well as providing stable employment, they provide a price range that allows lower economic brackets to survive.  Would far rather that they thrive, but that's a different rant...

And yes, because we can get it cheaper and faster than the same product that the local, independent guy is making, it does hurt the local guy.  I recognize that.  That's why I said 'when feasible' I do try to buy from the local guy.  It isn't always feasible and it doesn't make me unAmerican or maliciously against the local guy.  It also, by default, shows that I'm not in the lower economic bracket because when feasible I do.

Principles are great, just remember there is more to the picture than just buy local, buy artisan, buy small, buy independent.  So, please, have your principles, attempt to help the little guy thrive but don't make the person standing next to you feel bad for where they choose to shop.