Free...or is it?

 I was excited to receive an invitation for the Amazon Vine program.

If you haven't heard of it - it's a program where one can pick out free stuff from special pages on the website.

In exchange, they expect honest and helpful reviews of the items. The invitations are only issued to those who have written helpful reviews on past purchases.

There is a wide range of things on the list of choices...some good quality and useful things, some parts for machinery or electronics, decorative items, party supplies, pet supplies, clothing, and much, much more.

It's difficult not to get carried away choosing items!

It would have been so much fun getting free things earlier in my life...when I needed more things and couldn't afford much. Now, I am a point in life when I'm leaning more toward getting rid of stuff.

The fun part of ordering these items is affected by the fact that Amazon keeps a record of the dollar value of things you get for free...which gets turned in to the IRS. So, that spoils things a little. Taxes will have to be paid the same as if it were income.

Another negative aspect is accumulating stacks of empty boxes...quickly!

I have a special place in my heart for empty boxes and it's hard to throw them away.

Oh, problems, problems.

In other news...the craft class at the library this month was little refrigerator magnets.

We cut out cardboard circles with words or pictures and attached them to clear magnets.

I made two Santa's sleigh ones and two others.  Simple and fun.

Here's a photo I forgot to show earlier.  This turtle was crawling across the yard on October 3rd.  I was surprised to see him so late in the year.

He'd better be finding a warm spot before cold weather!