Happy Independence Day to All! I hope everyone is enjoying the day. Life has seemed particularly stressful lately, so I, at least, need a day to chill out and to celebrate with all Americans, whether I politically agree with them or not.

And here is something we can ALL agree on! Isn’t great to get something for free? That always gives me a little burst of joy. And I got the cookies pictured above by shopping at Trader Joe’s this morning.

So I don’t know if all the Trader Joe’s stores are doing this or not, but the one in Morrisville, NC near me is. They are tagging various items in their stores with 4th of July stickers (see it in the upper left hand corner of the package?). If you find one, you get it free! The woman giving out the Kringle and fruit food samples told me about this, and I was ON IT! I found one within eyesight of the tasting station and brought it back, and she just cracked up , because apparently I was the only adult who was at all interested in it since she had been handing out samples. I found another one within at least a minute and showed it to her, and she explained you only got to get one per customer. So I gave her back the one I had found close to her and she put it back in its place for another lucky winner.

I ended up finding 4 different items with stickers! But this was the one I liked the best, as well as the one that cost the most ($3.49). But mostly, it was just fun. It was fun going through the store trying to find items with stickers on them. However, mostly people paid no attention. People picked the identical item WITHOUT the sticker on them. And, to be honest, I had to point out to my check out person that my cookies had a sticker and so should be free. She apologized and took it off immediately.

So that is my fun adventure of the day so far. If you go to Trader Joe’s, look for stickers. No telling what free prize you might find!