Just Around the Corner

there's a little quik mart around the corner from me. I rarely purchase anything there -- outrageously expensive -- but I stopped in there and bought a small bag of popcorn (read 'investment') and dropped off an Avon catalogue. she wished me well and said that she would spread the word. she called about a half hour later to buy a pair of sandals -- yes, for those of you that don't know, we sell ALOT of non-cosmetic stuff! LOL! today, I delivered her sandals to her, she tried them on...they looked adorable...and decided they were so comfy that she would leave them on. I had provided a catalogue in her bag and brought an extra one. she placed it on the counter for all to see and asked how many 'back-ups' I had. I said I had several and she said good that if someone started fingering the one on the counter, she planned to put it in the bag with their purchase and then call me for another! LOL! she then told me that she wanted me to go print up a flyer to put on her bulletin board. I smiled and said okay, but she was suddenly real insistent. she informed me that only neighborhood people were allowed to put anything on her bulletin board and people have thanked her for the business that 'her' bulletin board has brought them. this store has been around for about two hundred years. really! it used to be a trading post and has just evolved over the years into a quik mart. this woman and her husband have owned it for about 20 years now and I knew the previous owners (they owned it for several years before I moved here in 1983) and they had been preserving the history of the place with photos and other documents in scrapbooks and albums that they had found. anyway...it hit me just how much I NEED a color printer (all of Avon's lovely, make-it-yourself flyers are in color)...I don't even have a printer right now;-\ so I'm thinking of spending my few spare dollars on a color printer during the tax-free weekend. I've been watching freecycle for a month now and all of the ones offered have been noted as 'not working' or 'worked the last time we used it.' so I'm thinking of biting the bullet and going for it next weekend. good investment? you tell me...I'm nervous...