they can get top heavy, and if it seems healthy otherwise, i wouldn't worry about it.

Aloe are very hardy, hardy enough to survive Walmart, where the clerks almost certainly cared less about it than you do. The bottom leaves are usually about 45 degrees up from horizontal and probably got bent in for packaging if they now flop down. They will never 'un-flop', but don't worry about it. If you burn yourself, get stung by a wasp, ..., use gel from those leaves. This is what I'd do: I'd take it out of its pot, check the roots and the soil (roots should be firm, soil drain quickly and not be wet), pop it back in the same pot or one just slightly bigger with cactus soil, put it in a sunny window, and let it be for a couple of days. Then give it some water and let it be for a week or two. It'll be fine. It wants sun and not a lot of water, especially in winter. Mine, which will need splitting up and repotting in the spring, is the some-number-of-great grandchild of a plant given to my mother by my aunt in the early '70's. At this point it has outlived both of them and has its own children in the windows of many friends. This is a plant to share, in years to come, as it offsets freely. Good luck!

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may God bless the WHOLE world!

I bought one of those aloes from Walmart myself a while back. I normally don't repot a plant the day I bring it home, but I had to with this one. I have had it for about 6 months now. I had to take off a couple leaves too, but as you can see it has done quite well.. And no.. I don't normally keep it on that counter, it's usually in a north window by my sliding glass door.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b28/gomerp618/Aloe.jpg

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Lord, please let me be the person my dog thinks I am!

How big? Depends upon the aloe. Some are 3 inch single rosettes, some 35 foot trees with a single trunk, some clump into little bushes, some clump into really big masses, and the others do everything between and then some. Aloe vera has 2 forms. One is pretty big, a friend's (she grew it indoors and had it for over 10 years when I met it...uh, her) was about 3 feet tall with a 3 foot spread. The bottom leaves were very big. It didn't offset often and she took the offsets off. I don't know if it was max size as she moved with it several years ago. The other form is smaller, about 1 foot to 18 inches tall, and offsets wildly. No individual stem gets very big, but it'll fill any width tub you put it in. Quickly. That's the form I have. Sounds like yours had too much water and not enough sun. They want a lot of sun if they're going to last for years and years, and not a lot of water, especially in winter. Get another one. Keep trying.

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may God bless the WHOLE world!

Never over pot, the soil won't dry quickly enough for the small roots. Roots can take a long time to develop and the soil has to dry out between waterings or they rot. How deep? All the green is above the soil line, the roots below, and the narrow band of whitish is at the soil line. I use wooden chop sticks I take from the Chinese take out to prop them up until the roots get big enough to hold them. Never put the green under the dirt, it'll rot your plant.

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may God bless the WHOLE world!