Monday, August 6, 2012

Getting my kicks for free

Woo-hoo! Today has been a veritable bonanza of free entertainment discoveries. This morning, while consulting the comments on last week's Saturday Puzzle from the Wall Street Journal site (in hopes of finding some hints for the clues that had me stumped), I discovered that the creator of this particular puzzle actually has his own website, A-Frame Games, which includes more than 20 free puzzles. Then, later in the day, I came across this post I made last year about the TV show "100 Dollar Makeover," which (unlike most shows of its kind) takes an ecofrugal approach to home design. I loved the way the hosts would stretch their extremely limited budget through such strategies as repurposing existing items, building from scratch, and buying secondhand; my only complaint was that only three episodes of the series were available to view online. However, after rereading the post, it occurred to me to search and see if there were any additional episodes to be found—and lo and behold, the entire season (nine episodes) is now posted on the A&E website!

I feel like chortling, "Calloo, callay!" as I did roughly two years ago, when I discovered two whole previously inaccessible seasons' worth of Wasted Spaces, my favorite home TV show, on the DIY Network site. And, to make the parallel complete, I also have a fresh container of Blue Bunny ice cream (mint chocolate chip) in the freezer, purchased last weekend with a sale/coupon combo that reduced its price to a buck fifty. More ice cream and fluffy TV, and cryptic crosswords to boot! The best things in life really are free—or at least cheap.

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