Payday Friday 10-28 Part 1

Shaking off the post-Halloween doldrums has not been easy. But I've redressed the blog, and redressed my house, and redressed my spirit as well. I've decided to roll with the fact that Christmas EVERYTHING is out in stores now, before Thanksgiving is even really a thought on the wind. 

But that doesn't mean I'm totally DONE with Halloween yet. I went out on Payday Friday, October 28th, and had my last hurrah picking through the swiftly disappearing Halloween merch in the shelf space already being taken over by Christmas items (I looked through the Christmas stuff too, because hey, I love Christmas when the season is actually HERE... and I have to prepare for my Christmas countdown, all right?) I considered saving what I picked up for next Halloween, but decided that seemed crazy. 

And just to make sure things went down AWESOMELY... my Payday Friday extended into Saturday, with a trip into Bangor and Brewer to hit those Goodwill stores as well. So this is a 3 store haul y'all. But that also means that I'm going to have to break the post up into a few different installments. 

So let's stop standing around chatting about our feelings and get down to business, shall we? 

First up here's this cute little Jack O' Lantern Jester who is now packed up with all my other Halloween decorations, but had a good 3 day run on the shelf before then. I love Jack O' Lanterns, and I love Jesters... so this really didn't have to fight too hard to jump into the basket. He was originally 1.99 but since all of the Halloween merchandise was half off, I got this little guy for 1.00. 

See More After the Jump!

As regular readers of this blog already know, I am pretty much obsessed with Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. So finding four of them was pretty exciting. I included C.S. Lewis's Out of the Silent Planet in this picture... because I felt like it. Also pictured here are the TSR Endless Quest Books, Revenge of the Rainbow Dragons, Raid on Nightmare Castle, and Conan The Undaunted. And finally, on the end there is the Choose Your Own Adventure The Third Planet from Altair. Every book pictured here was .99 cents. 

I loved Clarissa Explains it all. This piece of pop-culture junk may seem a bit esoteric since I'm not sure how huge a fan base the show really has/had. But I was overcome with a need to own this board game when I found it at the Ellsworth store. And... drum roll please... I got it for .99 cents! I haven't picked through all the pieces to see if everything is included yet (it apparently relies heavily on plastic car keys and several copies of Clarissa's driver's license...) but it looks to be complete at a glance. Even if it wasn't I would have bought THE BOX just to prove this game once existed. 

Next up is this excellent Sesame Street Pop-Up Riddle Book. It came out in 1977 so the fact that this was completely intact, and functional was amazing to me. Again, regular readers of this blog will remember that I am a vintage Sesame Street fanatic, and finding this gorgeous book for .99 cents made this one of my favorite finds of the weekend. 

Here are some interior shots of the book. I just love this. The pages I didn't show you include a lot of pull-tabs and turn-wheels to make different things happen, like Grover's overalls falling down, and characters flipping over backwards. Everything still works, no rips or tears. It's in great shape and makes an excellent addition to my collection. 

And finally, mixed in with a pair of Grab-bags I picked up was this assortment of random figures. Front and center you'll notice a 1990 Bruce Wayne figure, and a MASK figure next to him. The Human Torch is a premium from 1996, and some TMNT mini-mutant figures in the bottom right corner round out the highlights. The blue gun up in front belongs to the 1991 Groundchuck TMNT figure... but alas no sign of the villainous bovine was seen. And if you squint and look closely you'll see some tiny Jawas riding a tiny ronto. I need some help identifying the guy with the high collar and the brown jumpsuit on the far right. He's a solid rubber figure, and he's awesome... but I have no idea what he's from. So if anyone recognizes him... the help would be much appreciated. 

That's it for part one, but there's plenty more to share from just this one trip, so I'll be back soon with more groovy Goodwill Goodies! Until then, Happy Hunting!