Yeah, so this whole “economy going downhill and we’re all gonna be destitute in 9.4 months” is kinda scary. Scary in a way that sucks. Scary in a way that makes me wanna do something.

I’m a business owner. I never really thought I’d say that, but I have to admit, I like saying it. I try my best to make my business a professional, customer-driven company. Staying alive in the upcoming (and current) downturn in the economy (stupid) is going to be VERY important to my sanity family.

I want to start a grass-roots campaign to help support small businesses such as my own. I want to feel love from my fellow online bloggy community. I don’t mean shop in my store and only my store and spend every last “extra” dollar you have on my website. I mean support the small business online and where you live.

The small businesses are what is going to keep our economy (stupid) from hitting the crapper. Trust me - WalMart, Target, and any other Big Box stores are NOT going to go under just because you stop buying every little thing you need from them just because you can save $1.45.

Small businesses, like mine and other mom-owned web stores, will suffer and be forced out of business without your help.

I guarandamntee you that you WILL find deals and competitively-priced products from small business. Try the sites. Spend a few extra minutes online and see what’s out there.

For my Thursday 13, I give you 13 of some GREAT online stores, all of which are run by moms. You never know what you might find!

1. Good for the Kids - My beloved online store. Of course I’d be first!

2. B3 Boutique - mom-owned

3. Scrapless Creations - mom-owned

4. Super Healthy Kids - mom-owned

5. Allison Strine Designs - mom-owned Etsy store

6. My Little Monkey Boutique - mom-owned

7. Three Chickadees - moms-owned

8. I Wanted to Wonder - mom/mom-owned

9. Red Thread Confections - mom-owned DELICIOUS gourmet chocolates

10. Emily Allyn - mom-owned

11. For the Monster - mom-owned cloth diaper store

12. Mom Spit - mom-owned - I use this stuff EVERY day

13. Tees for Change - mom-owned - I LOOOOOVE her “green” shirts

I URGE you to start shopping with us small guys. It’s not only economy-friendly, it’s eco-friendly! Really!

I’ll be listing more online small businesses in later posts, so please please please spread the word to shop online with other small businesses. Even if you don’t post about it, spend a few $$ and help everyone.

Seriously.

OK - I’m lying. It’s waaay to cold there for me. I’m a native Floridian for Pete’s sake. I can’t deal with snow and weather under 50 degrees. Nope. Can’t do it.

Why, you ask, would I move to Canada? I lurves a list:

• They’re SO nice. Every single person I’ve talked to in Canada (most from my business) is so nice. Not that I’ve tried, but they never get upset or mad. And with their accent, they sound so nice. Kinda like the English sound smart. The Canadians sound nice.

• Free health care. Please don’t comment about politics here - I just want to get my head scanned without having to pay $1200, then $50 for follow ups, and another $800 for a 2nd scan, etc. And I still owe the hospital for some part of Bear’s birth. She’s almost 2. It’s not that I just didn’t pay - they got the insurances all messed up and are just now realizing I didn’t pay for something. All this crap, and we HAVE insurance. I can’t even imagine what it’s like for someone without it or on Medicaid.

• Hockey. HockeyMan would be in heaven to have hockey around him 24/7. Aside from living in the Coliseum (no, not the Colliseum), I think living in Canada would make his life.

So, please, Canada, lower your temperature so I can move to your blessed country. Who knows - depending on who is elected as President next year, I may have to bundle up and move anyway.

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Visit Mamas Like, eh!

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NEW YORK, May 6, 2007

(CBS) Sunday Morning commentator Nancy Giles wonders where our priorities are. Why does the news media give as much or more coverage to Alec Baldwin as it does to Iraq?

With our troops in Iraq in the middle of a bloody civil war, gas prices inching towards 4 bucks a gallon, and the gap between the uber-wealthy and the working class getting worse, a leaked recording was big news recently.Was it the missing 18 and 1/2 minutes of Watergate tapes “accidentally” erased by Nixon secretary Rosemary Woods? No. It was the actor Alec Baldwin’s angry phone message to his daughter.And somehow, it was a major news story. That voice mail message was played, replayed, and scrutinized by child psychologists, anger management experts, divorce lawyers, and anyone else camera-ready and close to a studio.

As the Virginia Tech tragedy and the agonizing details unfolded, you knew that was big news — then the story was repeated, rewound and recapped; students, professors, witnesses, and the grief-stricken were pulled in front of the cameras and bombarded with questions. Then came the videotaped confession that the killer mailed to NBC News. And then the hand-wringing disclaimers about news and ethics. It was relentless coverage and instant hindsight.

But “Coming up next… more on Sanjaya!” A kid with his own hair and teeth and little else vaults from mediocrity on “American Idol” to the White House Correspondent’s Dinner. And dig this. The clash of the important and the inane continued as the President and First Lady made their own appearance on “Idol” last week. True, the President was thanking Americans for their generous donations, and he shared a “yuk” with the 70 million voters, but I wonder: Did he spend the same amount of time on his carefully-crafted cameo as when he met with Congressional leaders defending his Iraq policies on Wednesday?

What is news? It’s all a blur, run into the ground, with war, politics and pop culture given the same value. It’s like pulling all-nighters to cram for exams. Sure, you’ll pass, but did anything really “stick?”

Does anything stick now?

AUDREY writes:

DEAR GOD, please pray for us. I am sitting here waiting for my hub to come home to tell him his brother is dead. He was just deployed to Iraq on 04/21/07. My 9 & 5 year bawling in their beds. plea

i will pray

from rosie.com