Free

Got two free weeks at the local health club.  Our company is considering a corporate membership so they are trying to woo us into it.  It might make me go more often if I went with people before work or at lunch.  The only trouble is "before work" is 4:30 or 5:00 a.m.

Yesterday I went to a yard sale and I found a whole box of old crochet patterns.  They ranged from 1948 through 1966.  I got a blanket for the dog kennel for $2 (I always buy dog bed blankets at yard sales), some funky fabric for a bag I'm sewing for $1, and the whole box of patterns for $4 and they threw in some crochet thread for free!

Today, the Brown Eyed Man and I went to a sale at this old TV shop.  It's been closed as long as I have lived here but there was always a neon RCA light on in there.  I always wondered who paid the power in this place.  The windows had cardboard covering most of them so you couldn't really see what was in there except that it was crammed full of stuff. 

This morning I was looking on Craigslist and saw that today they would be opening it up and selling everything inside.  The sale started at 10.  It was 9:55.  I ran upstairs and grabbed the Brown Eyed Man and we headed out.  There were some interesting things in there, but mostly tv repair stuff.  I heard some of the older people in there say they used to come in on Saturdays and buy 45's.  People were buying things like crazy but nothing we needed.

On the way home, I saw the library was having a used book sale.  Ack!  Brown Eyed Man didn't want to go so, since our town is so small, I took him home and was back in 10 minutes.  I wandered around and found a few books: Modern Poetry (printed in 1919), a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald, and a book of dog stories.  When I went to pay, the lady only charged me for two books and I got the third one free!  I tried to explain to her that I owed more than she was charging me, but she wouldn't have it.  Those books were $ 1.50 and that was that.  Last time I went to this sale, I asked what they do with all the left over books and they actually donate them to another charity, the domestic violence group in my hometown that my mother helped create!  Small world.

How much am I charging for all of this useful information?  Nothing!  It's free!