Savvy Shopping: Mix and Match

Yes I promised not to do these as much, but with my big project of sorting and filing all my excess cards, I haven't had time to scan or go through other cards much lately.  I haven't even really bought cards in a while anyways, but I do have some to show off.  At any rate I still go shopping at my local second hand store and usually take pictures when I get home of what I get.  Sometimes I wonder why I buy more junk I don't need.  But it just hit me- I'm always tempted to buy one of those monthly boxes that you get random stuff in for anywhere between 20-30 bucks.  What I do shopping second hand, while it doesn't give me brand new items, it does allow me to spend a lot less, get stuff I'm interested in, and have it in hand the moment I see it.  It also goes to a good cause.  So if I can get 10 or so items for under 10 bucks, I think I like this a lot better than those subscription boxes.  So with that, let's see what I got this time.  I was pretty happy with the results.

The top two books I got because my sister mentioned a while back about being on the lookout for Judy Blume books for my nieces.  I'm not sure if they are interested in either, but I needed to get 10 books anyways and we was a little short.  The third book looked semi interesting so I got it.  The last book I've seen there a few times and finally got it since I've been somewhat interested.  Ten books for a quarter is always hard to pass up, so when you find 5-6 you kind of just find some "almost want" books, and these were what these were.  My mom usually finds most the books, so I'm just glad she finds some books to read.

A couple years ago I hear rumblings that cassettes were making a comeback.  I haven't seen it yet, but for the past few months my local store has had a ton of old tapes and are 2 for a quarter.  I have no real need for them, but usually look.  I've been a long time fan of DeGarmo & Key and have always thought about getting these while looking, but never do.  I finally did this time and would have bought some others if I found them but it seems I'm not the only one to finally pull the trigger on 30 year old Amy Grant cassettes.  I might look again and buy a few more if for no other reason then just so they can clear these out soon.  It's taking up a lot of space, and its drowning out the CD's which I like finding interesting ones each time.

This time I found only one CD I wanted, but it was a good one.  It was a MONSTER!

The funny thing is, the night before I was bored and looking on eBay for these old Monster Ballads CD's hoping to find some cheap.  This CD has some really good songs, and even have bands I haven't heard about in 20 years.  Bands like Kix, White Lion, and Cinderella.  At 50 cents, as I usually say, finding one song on a CD is worth the price, but now that I stream more music its a little tougher to justify.  Having said that, I find no less than 10 songs on this CD I could listen to on a regular basis and not get tired of.  So I think this was a great deal.  Speaking of listening to music, I've started playing music on my computer of stuff I have while I sort cards and its fun to hear some lost gems.  I have over 3200 hours left on the playlist, and while I skip 2/3rds of the songs (not sure why I have Sam Hunt songs on my computer, but whatever) I still find some good stuff.

As I was wrapping up my visit I looked at the kids section as I usually do just to maybe find a hidden gem.  On this occasion I found 2.  One I don't think I'll show but its a beanie of a gorilla.  It's actually from Planet Hollywood and was only 50 cents.  While I didn't need it, it looked similar to this stuffed gorilla we found a couple years ago at the store that we were amazed to find.  The older one we found looked just like one my sister had when she was probably a teenager.  She named it Gary Gorilla and she had it for a long time.  It finally started to fall apart and she got rid of it.  However after she passed away we tried to find stuff that would remind us of her.  When we found this one, we were astounded, and immediately bought it.  Flash forward to today, and I found this small beanie version, which is by a different maker, but I noticed his eyes look exactly the same and face the same direction.  In my mind I thought "that could be Gary's son".  (Yeah I need to get out more).  After we got home I looked at the tab, and saw this one's name is George.  So Gary has a son now.  You know what, here's a photo.

George has really long arms.  Long enough to hold an old happy meal Miss Piggy I got a year or more ago which I mentioned on a previous blog and he can also hold a tiny Peppa my nieces gave me a couple Christmases ago after I let it slip I would sometimes watch the show (and found a Peppa piggy bank for a buck at Walmart which I bought).  Anyways, I think George looks just like Gary and I thought it was a good buy.

So one other item I bought was one I was most excited for.  I never thought about getting one before, but when I saw it and the price, I knew I had to get it.

I was never a scout, so I never made a Pinewood Derby car.  When I saw this for 50 cents and in the box I took the chance.  I got home and opened it and it looks like its all there, so I'm really happy.  I hope after I get most of my collection filed I will work on this and then show off the results.  It is a little funny seeing the box on what the car could be then opening it up and just seeing a giant block of wood, but I can't wait to work on it.  I don't think I'll ever test it out, but it should test what little skills I have in building stuff so we'll see.

So before I go, I have two other things to show off.  On a recent trip to Walmart at the checkout line I was a little thirsty and thought I'd get a soda.  When I saw a bottle of Coke I figured I'd get it since the name on it has been on the lips of card collectors all year long.

So I can say I got another Bowman at Walmart this year, so that's impressive.  In the meantime the boxes while not as popular as they were a few months ago, are still sold out at my local store.  In fact they have nothing worth getting right now.  I'm hoping I find more clearance packs soon though.  One more note about this bottle, I love the fact that the name is actually a sticker now so you can stick it someplace if you want.  Maybe I can use this sticker on one of the boxes I sort so it will be easier to see whats in the box.

Finally as you may notice if you are a baseball fan, the Royals this year are bad.  I mean BAD!  They could have the worst record in professional baseball history unless the Orioles decide they want that title worse, which after a couple trade this week, its relieving the pressure on the Royals a bit.  Boy do I miss the 2014 and 2015 seasons.  So I had to find a way to still enjoy baseball this year and finally bought something I've wanted for a while.

I finally dropped some money on Ebay and got the 8 disc 2015 World Series DVD of the Royals winning it all.  I haven't watched much yet, but the first game of the DVD was pretty nice.  I chose to listen to the Royals radio announcers over the Joe Buck national broadcast, and while it was off at times, I thought it matched up pretty good.  I would have changed a few things on the DVD, like maybe adding bit of the pre and post shows, maybe show a few minutes of the post game press conferences but I'm not nit picking.  I get the entire game, that's all that matters.  Game One was the one where Fox had the major issue during the game and eventually had to use the MLB Network for a while.  Since I had the Royals announcers on the audio, it didn't really affect me much, aside from a random cut when the Mets manager came out of the dugout and suddenly they started playing again.  But since I remember what happened, it didn't affect me any.  I can't wait to check out the other discs and the bonus discs too which show the Royals winning the ALDS and ALCS as well as highlights from the season.  I kind of wish they would release 2 versions of these though as I'm sure Mets fans would want a copy of them making the World Series with the bonuses being centered around them.  I'd love a 2014 World Series collection that included the road the Royals took to get there.  But since they don't I'm not as inclined to order it.  If I found it cheap though I'd consider it.

Well, that wraps it up for today, I guess I better start going through cards again so I can finish it up sooner and start writing more blogs.  Thanks everyone for reading and have a great day.  I hope to enjoy this weather a bit the next few days, so sorting might have to wait.

Savvy Shopping: No Dice!

It's been a bit since I've posted and I just haven't been in the mood to do much.  I've been sorting cards that I hope to get rid of some day, but even that has been boring to me.  So I decided to post about my most recent trip to Savvy Seconds.  I know it seems like that's all I post anymore, but I figured I'd knock some of these out and I can maybe post some cards again soon.  At the end of this post I'll go back in time and show some random photos.  Anyways, let's take a gander at what I found.

Needing the 10 book minimum to get them for a quarter, since I usually go with my mom, I let her pick out the books she wants and whatever is leftover I try to get to ten.  There were 3 Alias books but I chose these two.  I figured next time I went if the other was still there I'd grab it (update: just went today and my mom found 10 books, so I never looked to see if it was still there.  Maybe next time).

For a while I would watch a few episodes of Alias in syndication but its been a long time.  I wasn't devoted to the show, but if I saw it pop up on a streaming service I have, I wouldn't be against watching it.  I mean currently I'm watching CHIPS and MacGuyver on Amazon Prime, I'm not super picky.  As for these books, maybe I'll read them.

My favorite writer! DIANA... SOMETHING!  Pretty sure I mentioned that story a few times but for those unaware a short recap: In high school I winged a book report about a book I read by Diana Something (exactly how I put it).  It was a real book which I found a while back, but I forgot parts of it so I made up some stuff.  I ended up getting an A on the book report.

Too bad I didn't save that book report.  Oh well.  As for this book, there is a good chance I'll read it.  Sometime when I'm bored I'll read or when I have to sit in a waiting room.  So there's a chance and since its not very long I might take a flier on it.

Originally I got this because my mom is a fan of Erma Bombeck's.  However the other name on here also caught my attention.  Growing up I was a big fan of The Family Circus and Bil Keane was the illustrator and writer.  I've moved on to other comics (Retail is a great comic if you ever get the chance to check it out, plus its updated daily online), but since I needed another book (which I found before the Alias ones), this was an easy pick.  I haven't really thumbed through it, but bet I will soon.  I'm more prone to check out short story or picture books first since I can skip around if I want.

Next up I found a stadium cup from Mizzou.  These I like picking up if they are cheap even though I don't really need anymore, but hey, can't beat a dime.  As I get more room on my shelving, I can display them like my tins.  When I have too much I can either rotate them in and out or just stack them.  I don't see the baseball ones all that much though so that was a nice plus.

I found this floating shelf for I believe a quarter so I got it.  If I knew how much of a pain it would be to hang it, I might have passed, but now I displayed it, I'm glad I got it.  I wanted something nicer than the one I had before and while its smaller, it displays nice.  Under it you see the books I already mentioned, but also a picture frame.  I also bought that with a plan to use it for a picture, but since the picture I have didn't turn out like I hoped, I might not use it.  Oh well.  Anyways, let's see the shelf actually displaying stuff.

Flanking this shelf is a couple other black shelves that showcase a few more collectibles.  In fact now I have a little space to show a little more if I want.  That is if that McDonald's T-Bone will quit falling off the shelf.  Maybe next time I'll show all three shelves, and by then can display a WWE action figure I need to get from my friend who got one I really wanted a few months back.

So one final item to show, and when I saw it I was excited.  Really excited!

TRIPLE YAHTZEE!  FOR 10 CENTS!  Okay, no way I'll pass that up.  I figured for that price something was missing.  As long as the blue velvet dice holder was included I was happy.  I did open it before I paid for it and saw it was included and also found the cup.  10 cents and it was mine.  When I got home I checked it out further.  In the store I saw it had a couple score sheets included but at home I looked closer and saw they were used.  They were in pencil so I could probably erase them, but still, I'm not mad.  I opened it up more and found the poker chips which I still never really understood the use for but was glad they were included.  Though I looked closer and realized why it was so cheap.  No dice were included.  If that's all that's missing, I'm okay with that.  First off, Triple Yahtzee isn't as easy to come by as regular and this deluxe version came out in 1978.  I don't need the original parts, I just need all the parts.  A couple bucks at Walmart and I can get new dice.  Or just use dice from other games I have.  I think I might already have a copy of this game, so I didn't really need it, but I'm not passing it up.  As for the score cards.  I'm sure I can find some on Ebay.  If not, I can just play regular Yahtzee and buy some score cards at Walmart for 6 bucks.  Yes they still sell them.

Overall, I was most excited about the non-complete game, but really happy with how I made out.  I started writing this last night, but suddenly my computer froze up.  No biggie, but I figured since I promised random pics, I figured I would show them.  Happy Flashback Friday!

A few months ago I showed off some Riverboat trading cards, and said I was excited the Belle of Louisville was included since I'd seen it before.  Here is a photo I took in November of 1996 of it.  Less than a year later someone sabotaged the Belle and it was damaged for a time.  It was fixed and still there, but I always wanted to go back and visit it again.  Maybe this time ride it.

Hey, its that dude from the Spin Doctors!  I took this picture in July of 2002 at a festival in Joplin, MO.  Here he is signing a Frisbee I got when a local tv station threw some out to the crowd at the event.  After getting his autograph, I got a band mates autograph too.  As I took his picture he asked "Don't YOU want to be in the picture?"  I did but didn't trust a stranger using my disposable camera, but luckily I did.

He was pretty nice.  The event itself was nice too as I saw the Spin Doctors, Gin Blossoms, Sponge, Seven Mary Three, and a few moments of Montgomery Gentry just as they hit it big.  I won free tickets to the 4 day festival but only went one day.  If I went all four days I could have seen Dennis Quaid and also Larry The Cable Guy before he hit it big.  Them's the breaks.

OH YEAH!  Who couldn't use Kool-Aid playing cards?  My mom was got a bunch of decks of playing cards at work one day and while most were used casino decks (nice in their own right), a few had other themes or advertisements.  This was my favorite.  While I never had these as a kid, it reminded me of using the Kool-Aid cups and pitcher which we did have.  This had to be one of the items you could get from the points you had to cut out on each package.  Sometimes I miss stuff like that.  I wish more companies did fun stuff like that.  I know Kellogg's and Coca-Cola do similar things, but they really aren't the same.

BONUS SAVVY SHOPPING!

Since my computer froze last night, I've gone back to Savvy Seconds, and since I didn't get a lot I thought I'd add it here.  Thus saving a post and not having yet another shopping post.

Another Mizzou cup to add to the collection, and it was 10 cents.  Not much more to add.  I'm starting to get a good collection of these.  If I still sold programs at the football games I'm sure I could get more.  Maybe I will do that again, it was fun.

These however were much better finds, also 10 cents each.

Two cups with the same design, these are not new.  If I had to guess, I would say late 1980's.  Possibly early 90's but you'll see in a moment these are pretty old.

HOLY WOW!  1985 World Series cups.  I also got two of these.  It was still named Royals Stadium, and these are perfect to display.  Also 10 cents.

This last cup I got also, 10 cents I think is my favorite.

It was only one cup, but I think this had to be about 1991 or 1992.  I believe that was when they used that slogan.  Let me check real quick.  UMM... I was WAY off.  Turns out that slogan was 1983.  So a 35 year old stadium cup for a dime is something I'll gladly pay for.  All 5 of these cups looked great with no chips or any signs of peeling, so I think I made out like a bandit on them.  While I didn't find anything else there today, this was by far one of the better finds in recent trips.

So with that I'll wrap it up.  Thank you for reading and have a great weekend.  It's supposed to be a bit cooler here, so I might go on a trip to the local Antique Mall and might have a new blog to post sometime soon.  If not, I'm still sorting my extra cards and will work on that.  Either way, I'll be busy.  Stay safe and enjoy the weather if its not too hot.