Savvy Loot Box- Books Aplenty

 Last post I mentioned my most recent trip to my local second hand store- Savvy Seconds.  I talked about a huge haul I got the previous time, and today I will show it.  I figured I would do this as a Savvy Loot Box post because the total was under 20 bucks, and I want you to just imagine all if you ordered one of those mystery box subscriptions and got all this in one box.  Spoiler- it wouldn't fit in a box.  Some of the items are for both my mom and I, but these were all items that I was interested in.  So let's look at the header first, then dive into what I got, well probably talk then more pictures.

I don't remember the total of all the items, but my mom also got a few items, and I think the total hovered around the 10 dollar mark, I think like $9.75, so not only was it cheaper than almost any subscription box, but with well over 20 items, it had more items than one too.  I don't know where to start, so I'll show the VHS tapes first.

Reminder that VHS tapes are 10 cents each, and I usually buy them in lots of 5.  Some I buy because I'm building a VHS collection of movies I either once had in the format, or wished I did, or because I've never owned the movie and would like to at least watch it and maybe convert it to a dvd.  Life Or Something Like It I originally owned of VHS, but never owned it on another format.  I liked the movie, so for 10 cents it actually fits in the first category but I also hope to convert it one day.  Same for Three To Tango, which I may have never owned, but remember seeing it a few times and would like to convert it.  I watched Holiday Inn for the first time a couple years ago, and while I wasn't in love with the movie, I do like to have a variety of options for Christmas movies instead of the same 10 or so I watch, so for a dime, I hope to convert it as well.

Home Alone is an oddity in a way.  I have never owned it on VHS, but I have the DVD, and actually have it on Blu Ray and even digital.  I bought this because this is the classic cover that I liked best and most of the new formats don't use, so for that reason, I paid 10 cents for box art, but its in good shape and looks nice with my other VHS tapes.  I need to straighten them up a bit and organize them, but after I convert a few I probably will. Plus I need to make room for more if I get some.  Savvy has been running low as of late, but maybe a few garage sales might help me out.

The Wedding Singer is like Home Alone in that I never owned it on VHS, but have it on DVD.  I bought it though because again it has nice box art, and while I hope to own the Blu Ray someday, my DVD is getting really scratched and it messes up at times.  So maybe I can convert this and that will hold me over until I get a new copy.  When I convert movies, I don't expect high quality, but when you watch movies in newer formats, that just look better.  I do miss that days of fuzzy TV and VHS lines at times, but so glad how much better these movies look today.  I wish older titles would get released on DVD but, its why I still look at VHS, maybe I'll find obscure movies not in a new format.

Next we'll look at something I hardly buy, computer games.

Last post I mentioned this Jewel Quest game, and I have finally completed all the levels and working on it again.  Its kind of similar to Candy Crush, as you match 3 in a row, so it was worth the 50 cents. I have an older desktop that I'm using to store excess files but I have no other use for it.  So my plan is to find older games and turn it into some sort of retro computer.  It won't be connected to the internet, and runs Windows 7, but I have a bunch of games dating back to Windows 95 that I want to test on there.  I think it will be fun when finally completed.  Plus with 1TB hard drive, it can store a lot.

That was the reason for this 4 pack of board games, I haven't tried it yet, but for 50 cents I felt at least one of those games will be good.  I already play sudoku online so I don't really need it, but I'll try it out.  I think the others will be fun though.  The packaging looks a little sketchy, but the games were legit, so thats all I cared about.

On this trip I didn't buy any CD's.  I probably could have, but there weren't as many good ones like my last post (which was about a week later), and looking back, I'm glad there wasn't because I probably would have put some of these items back if I bought a CD or two.

The closest thing I got to baseball cards this time was this pillowcase.  I bought it because.... well, I'm not sure.  I think it would look nice as a background if I did a video or something, but for the moment I have no plans on how to use it.  I'm still glad I found it, but in hindsight I should have passed on it.  More impressive was this magazine I found.  For a quarter I'm sure missing half the cover turned people off, but it caught my eye, and while I can't say I know a lot about JFK, I know enough that this could be a very interesting issue.

The cover date is a week or so after his death.  While this issue has no value due to its condition, I thought this was kind of a cool piece of history.  These photos might have been his last ones with his son and while I don't look for them, may not be readily available on the internet.  So since this issue doesn't have a lot of value, I figured I would scan a lot of the ads and pictures inside and do a blog on it at a later date (still working on scanning right now).  Part of the reason is because old ads do pretty well for me on sites like Pinterest, so creating traffic for my blog would be a good way to get noticed on both sites.  The only issue is this is a bigger magazine so the pages don't fit on the scanner, so I have to double scan the pages then sew them together.  They look a little off if you look close enough, but I still do a decent job with the stitching of the pages.  I'm about 1/3rd of the way though the scanning, and have some good photos of Y.A. Tittle in action as well so it will be a fun future post, and maybe one I can make some custom cards from too.

In recent posts I've mentioned how I've been doing puzzles more in the last couple years.  Well good thing because I hit the mother lode this time.

While buying used puzzles is a risk, 90% of the ones we've got from here have been complete, so I feel safe.  The older they look the bigger the risk, so the first two are the biggest risks.  The Hometown Collection ones are pretty fun ones to do, I've done quite a few in the past.  The bottom one looks interesting to me as well.  While we haven't started any of these yet, I hope to get started on them soon.  We are quite backlogged on puzzles right now, just finishing a 3 puzzles in one box, and about to start a new one.  Not sure what it will be yet, but glad we are finding so many.

The one I'm most excited about doing is the I Am Buck puzzle.  It is shaped like a buck head so I think it will be challenging and fun.  Its rare to find puzzles that are odd shaped.  I've done many kinds from square to circle almost anything in between, but a buck head is a new one.

Then I found another puzzle that had TWELVE IN ONE!  While 150 piece puzzles aren't much, 300 pieces aren't too bad, but getting 4 500 piece puzzles, and at 50 cents, you can't pass it up.  The time we went before I just missed out on puzzles, a couple snatched up about 6 or 7, so I was kind of mad, but also realize, first come first serve, so I wasn't too mad.  I guess I could have saved a couple for others, but they won't go to waste, and can spend more time away from the computer doing these, so its a double win.

If this was all I got on the trip, I would have been very happy.  I mean the puzzles alone was worth the trip, but the movies and magazine and everything else goes above and beyond.  HOWEVER, there's more!

Before I show the rest, I think I'll show the free stuff next.  Outside the doors of the entrance they have tubs of free stuff.  Usually broken stuff or stuff they can't or don't want to sell for various reasons.  I usually find an item or two in the tubs, but never have high hopes on finding anything to be honest.  I will say that a few posts ago I mentioned finding a USB drive in the tub.  I decided not to test it out because who know if it was a killswitch or not.  Recently I found my sisters old computer and while it didn't have anything on it, I decided to test out the drive.  It was empty and I can use it now, but haven't yet.  So nothing was wrong with it and I got 8GBs of free space to use.  Though shortly after I took apart the computer for a much needed cleaning and I broke it somehow, so now it doesn't work.. ugh.  I hope I can fix it, but if not I want to at least salvage the hard drive so I can use it.

Anyways what did I find on this trip for free?

VHS tape for the win!  I haven't checked this tape out yet (having problems with ripping a dvd to my computer so got frustrated and stopped working on it for a bit), but I hope to find some commercials on it.  At the least I hope the Lethal Weapon is a TV edit and I can find stuff on there.  The tape condition looks a lot better than the sticker on it, so I'm not worried about that.  Even if these are like HBO or VHS copies of the movie, I could convert Crocodile Dundee because I was just thinking the other day I don't think I've ever watched it start to finish.

The mom plaque was nice to find a couple days after Mother's Day.  It actually cleaned up nice, and now I'm going to find a nice photo to put in it so my mom can put it on a shelf.  The toughest part is trying to find the perfect photo.

The hat was an odd find to me.  It looked find, aside from a stain on it.  The stain isn't too noticeable and I think with a little more of a deep cleaning it will look fine.  I'm weary on wearing used hats, but I might wear this when I go to storage or at risk of getting dirty so I can keep my others looking nicer.  Even if I don't it does display nice, so right now its sitting on top of my PS4 until I move a few things around.

So at this point this trip was well worth it.  When we first enter the store I go directly to the VHS tapes and DVD's, and my mom goes to the books.  As it turns out they are in the same corner, so when I finish I usually see how many books she has and since its 25 for a quarter, I will browse to help her get a few more books.  I never plan to buy any because I'm never in the mood to read.  Though I am thinking if I put in a bookshelf to see all my books, I might start, so that is something I plan to do at some point.

Anyways, she found quite a few, but I still looked at books,  You never know what you'll find.

The Twilight book was for my mom, but still thought I'd show it.  She would always see it on TV and hated it.  One day she was bored and watched one or two and now she likes it, so now I have to look out for the movies.  25 books sounds easy, but it gets tough after the first 10.  On this trip, we didn't have that problem.  Some I added just to get to 25, some I just wanted.  Mike Lupica I just got because I have one or two of his others.  Paul Byrd was once a Royal so I figured why not.  John Daly has ties to Missouri and I figured it could be an interesting read, so I added that.  If you notice all of these minus the Twilight are hardcover, so it makes it easier to grab.  The Tom Brokaw I got because I always liked him, so I thought it could be a good book.  Same with Al Michaels.  The problem with both those books is I do crappy impressions of both, so when I read them I'll read it as their voice.  I did the same with a John Madden book.  It seems like I get a lot of books of announcers.  The Jack Buck book was the easiest decision ever.  I've always liked Jack Buck and loved hearing him call games, much like hearing Mike Shannon call games (I think he's retiring after this season).  I miss the older announcers who call the game at their pace instead of filling the time with unneeded words.

I found a couple more books and was quite happy.

I was going to pass on the families book, but it had a Royals family on the cover, so I got it.  We ended up with around 40 books, so 50 cents is under 1 and a half cent a book, so grabbing another wasn't too bad.  Anyways at this point I already picked up this Dick Schaap book.  The cover said it was signed but that's not always true.  My mom recently got one that wasn't signed despite the sticker.  Anyway, I opened it and sure enough it was signed.  That covers the 50 cents we paid right there.  I always liked his storytelling, so I was happy to find it and get it.  Even not signed I would have grabbed it.  Though this was an amazing find, this may not be the best find of the day.

Finding a Yogi Berra book was pretty cool.  I open all the books in the store just in case.  I mean I wouldn't want to pass up a signed book even if I didn't know the author.  At this point I open it and I don't freak out.  Is it possible he really signed it?  Either way I'm getting it, but how can I be sure.  When I got home I tried to verify it, then I remembered the cover has his autograph on the baseball.  Is it the same?  Well, it looks a bit rougher but maybe his signature changes as he gets older.  At this point I don't know if it is authentic, but to me it sure looks like it, and at 50 cents that is the deal of the day.  Not only is the book worth it, but if it is really signed by him, that is probably worth more than the total we paid for everything.  Just imagine getting a subscription box which you likely pay 25-30 bucks for and get everything I showed you today, including two books signed by Dick Schaap and Yogi Berra.  Now think that I paid under 10 bucks for all of it.

Everything on the desktop I got for under 10 bucks (not including the computer on top or the card boxes and what is above it).  Not a bad haul.  Some are items my mom bought including the lampshade which worked perfectly.  It was one of the best trips we've had there in a long time.

In addition we made a trip to Walmart and Dollar Tree, where my mom slipped in the Chiefs decals, which look really nice.  I already put one on my metal display shelf and it looks nice (too bad I didn't put it on there straight, but I like stuff crooked sometimes).  The Ari Gold book I got at Dollar Tree.  I thought it was very odd to find a book not by an actor, but by a character from a TV show, so I got it.  As others pointed out on the blu ray forums, its not real uncommon, but still a nice find.  After this day I realized I really need to display my books and need to get a bookshelf so I can finally start reading them.  I don't expect to do book reports on here like others have done, but maybe a brief line or two about them once I finish.  If I ever get around to it, I think a post is in order showing it off and my movies, cds, and my display shelf.  It will be like an episode of Cribs.

Anyways, that's it for today, I had a blast writing all this, and hope you enjoyed reading it.  I hope to hit some garage sales this weekend, and might make another trip to Savvy, so maybe I'll hit the jackpot.  If not, I'll have time to clean and straighten stuff or maybe try to fix that laptop.  Anyways, I hope everyone has a great week and weekend, and I might have another post soon, I've seen the A-Z challenge popping up and that sounds fun, also missed out on a music one that started the trend, and might do that one too.  Anyways, I should stay busy over the next week.