Hidden Gem

Early last month, my wife messaged me from work that she and her co-workers wanted me to pick up some Dunkin' and make what they call a MattDash run. Not to be confused with DoorDash, but MattDash doesn't get paid with anything but a lot of thank you from nurses.

So, I took the adventure and grabbed myself a coffee while I was there. The great part about that, was they were running a promo where they were giving away little tote bags with a donut of your choice with the purchase of any beverage.

 

This was the little tote bag I chose.

And my choice of the donut for the day was a strawberry frosted.

After finishing that up, I still had this kind of cool collectible bag and didn't have any ideas what I would do with it other than keep it as a collectible.

That's when I decided to get creative and use it for today's post and call it Hidden Gem.

Because I literally hid a gem card inside of it.

I picked this card up after I saw someone on Twitter have one and I felt influenced to have one myself.

  

I like unique cards with unique relics I haven't seen before. I am not sure how hard it was to pull one of these as I can't find a lot of details on it, but, it's still a cool addition.

Good coffee, good donut, good card. Sounds like a win to this Coffee Card Guy.

Hope everyone has a Magnificent Monday.

Below, tell me your favorite donut flavor.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Pumpkin Spice And Everything Nice

*sits down at his laptop, feeling like he had never left it almost a month ago to post on here. Takes a sip of coffee and thinks about today's fun post. Fingers on keyboard completely now and ready to go, it's time for a new long awaited Cards Over Coffee*

In Cinderella, when the clock hits midnight on August 31st, everything turns to Pumpkin Spice. That was my favorite part of the movie. Oh, you don't remember that part? I guess you either missed the giant pumpkin or didn't watch the version I did. Either way, I promise you that's exactly what happened.

*takes a sip*

For me, the power of seasons changes hand to fall when September 1st arrives. Out goes summer, the heat, BBQ's and fruit smoothies and it becomes fall and pumpkin spice everything.

I am always sad when summer ends, but I have come to realize even more this year how much I actually like fall and the first part of winter. It brings football, Thanksgiving, Christmas and once again, Pumpkin Spice. And yes, I love pumpkin spice.

It always starts out with Dunkin' Pumpkin Spice coffee and that usually leads to one of their Apple Cider and Pumpkin Spice donut. So far this year I haven't had a Apple Cider one as they are always sold out.

Of course when I can't have a pumpkin spice donut from Dunkin', luckily Entenmann's makes their version of one as well. These are glazed as opposed to Dunkin' version. Another one I enjoy is the pumpkin and cider donuts that Price Chopper puts out, just haven't gone there to get any yet.

*takes a sip, wishing that a donut was in front of him now though the glazed ones gunk up the keyboard*

I really enjoy most Chobani Flip flavors as I have posted on here before, the Peanut Butter Dream and Banana Cream Pie are tops,

So when I saw a Pumpkin Harvest Crisp version, I had to give it a go. It was also really worth it. Though, doesn't make it to the top of my favorites.

 

It also wouldn't be me or fall if I didn't have some Ben And Jerry's in my life. So that calls for me yearly dip into the Pumpkin Cheesecake flavor.

And finally,

 

I may have purchased five bottles of this. Literally five. It's actually in the coffee I am drinking with today's post and something I use in my coffee until December.

*takes a sip of pumpkin spice bliss before finishing up today's post*

I will pretty much try anything pumpkin spice, except pumpkin pie. I have never liked it and usually will choose any other pie instead of it. With my love of pumpkin spice, you would think pumpkin pie would be at the top of my list. NOPE.

Pumpkin spice is also the scent of the season at my house. My wife's Scentsy holders and wax items light up the house in fall along with other decorations I set up.

I know not everyone likes Pumpkin Spice, so what about you? Let me know in comments.

*takes another sip, Coffee Card Pumpkin Spice lover Blogger Out*

What Makes A Good Blog?

*sweat running down face as turns laptop on, looks over at cold drink that was picked up from the errands run and takes a sip. Aww refreshing. It's time for Cards Over Frozen Hot Chocolate*

 

*takes another quick sip*

What Makes A Good Blog? That's what I have been asking myself as I continue to figure out what direction my blogging will head. I have a deep passion for writing and enjoy coming on to show off what I opened or traded for, but how and where I display those writing pieces is still so undecided.

I take a look at other popular blogs I know (popular blogs are ones that have lots of comments and views) and try to see what makes them. Night Owl Cards ,which is probably at the tops of popularity, has great writing which lures the readers right in. Chronicles Of Fuji another one, has a way to connect with his readers through his life of being a teacher and some amazing cards. Baseball Card Breakdown by Gavin features life, cards and his incredible custom cards. 

Which leads me to ask myself, what is my thing? What makes my blog or blogs? (you guys can help me answer these questions if you want in comments)

I really don't have an answer for that myself, which is why I am having such a problem deciding what to do.

I guess I really need to look at my blogs closer and ask myself, what would make them a good blog? Is there a way to improve the foundation I have started?  Which one makes the most sense for some of the ideas I have going forward? Maybe that will help me decide which direction I will head.

While those questions are still burning, I will continue to plug a new post in on here like today's where I am showing off a couple great additions to my collection thanks to my big trade with @90sNicheFBCard.

*takes another sip as the condensation creeps upon the laptop, grabs a towel, wipes it up and continues on with the post*

My baseball card collecting has taken a bit of a turn in the past couple of months. I am not deeply collecting the Yankees anymore and am really only seeking out specific parts for my collection.

I have begun unloading all of my Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres cards along with other Yankees in exchange for cards that mean more for my collection. Football, Non Sports rank far ahead of baseball for me but it doesn't mean I gave up collecting baseball overall.

What I am looking out for now in collecting baseball cards is, Derek Jeter, Ken Griffey Jr, 90's inserts from 1995-1999 (any team, players) and 90's Fleer Metal Universe from 1996-1998.

And certain cards that peek my interest from Yankee championship years such as today's two cards, which both happen to be 1/1's and are from 2020 Topps Archives Signature Series.

First up, Johnny Damon. My first auto of Damon is a nice one. Good thing he wasn't feeling a little tipsy before signing these cards or it wouldn't have been signed in a straight line.

 

And the next I was really excited about in Jorge Posada, who my wife always jokes and calls him George Posada. Jorge was one of the final two Yankees autographs that I really needed for my 90's collection of them. The last one I really am seeking out is Mariano Rivera. Not sure how easy that one will come or if it ever will.

Once again, even though I have said it already many times to him, thanks again Bryan for the trade.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post and before it becomes a hot chocolate*

I hopefully will come up with an answer to all of my questions soon. I will admit I have been getting some outside advice and feelings from myself that I need to return to where I started and stay there. It also may be a sign when I found a list today of the Top 25 Sport Card Blogs to follow in 2021 and see that I am on there at number 18 with that said blog. 

But, who knows what I will decide. For now, I just need to catch up on some posts, enjoy some time away from blogging all the time, and catch up on some sorting. Also, enjoy my coffee and right now my Frozen Hot Chocolate that is quickly thawing. I don't know how you guys in the south deal with the heat.

Hope everyone has a great rest of their day and as always comments are welcomed.

*takes a few more sips*

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

Influenced

*sits down with first cup of coffee in front of the keyboard after sleeping in til 7:15 for the first time in almost 20 years, feels great and ready to go. Let's start the day in style*

Good morning coffee lovers! Collectors, you too!

*toasting my mug to you, holds it for a second waiting to hear an invisible clang because you return toasted*

I gotta admit something to you today, I am easily influenced. Not in a bad way. If I saw you shove your hand up a bees nest because Winnie The Pooh could, I won't do that. Or if you were to lick a toilet seat to prove to the government a virus is a hoax, I won't do that either. Or if you added laxatives to your water bottle to help with your diet and exercise and get yourself to runs, sorry run, more, I won't do that either. Now I am starting to sound like Meatloaf (the singer not the scrumptious piece of meat covered in my special topping).

On the other hand, if my spouse tells me to try an un-coffee drink from Dunkin' because its what she has been drinking, I will try it because it's your spouse and there should be some trust there. Though you may question it because everything you have really ever had from Dunkin' has been in coffee form. So this could lead to trust issues later on.

Fortunately for her, she was right. This pineapple drink (I don't know the technical name for it) was delicious and made a great mid morning drink. Could I picture myself waking up to this? Nah. It was good, but I need that aroma of coffee in my house in the morning when I wake up. Then that nice first hot sip, especially in the winters here.

*takes one of those warm sips, then moves on to discuss cardboard*

One of the easier things I am influenced by is cardboard. And I mean easily influenced.

All across the card world, I spy either a card I forgot I wanted to once, a new card release I want a card or cards from or as in today's case, a card I never knew existed but knew I had to have.

I can't remember who posted it on Twitter, but someone tweeted out a  1991-1992 NBA Hoops Will Smith "rookie card" and being the 90's nostalgic loving freak I am, I sought it out.

For $1.50 each and .50 shipping total, I landed both copies in the set. This is the first card of the two and you can tell by the design, it's totally 90's and I am totally in awe. This is Bodacious!

Back of the first card

If I was to pick the true rookie between the two cards, it would be the first. The second one is more like the team photo subset.

Speaking of that second card,

This one features Will Smith joined by a group of students who had perfect attendance as apart of Stay In School promotion.

Back of the card gives more details on that.

I have been a Will Smith fan starting with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, adding these unknown made cards were solid additions to my non sport PC and I believe are my first Smith cards to my collection.

Also taking a look at these made me remember how much cards were used for promotions/ads like this and things like Don't Do Drugs, etc. It may not hurt a card company today to do something similar today with so much going on. Of course, I would put it in a kid-type product. I don't think too many would be happy to find a cards like these in National Treasures.

*takes another sip, hopes they don't ever create one that says "don't drink coffee". Then takes a bigger sip just in case*

This isn't the first time I have been easily influenced by cardboard, every day I find myself wanting something, then something else and something even more. The thing is and it's a hard realization, you simply just can't have it all. There is too much out there. Just pick and choose which ones mean more to you which once again is a battle in itself.

I have also learned that lesson the tough way with non cardboard and when I think about which coffee creamers I want to try. Just because I am influenced by something new and the word Snickers on the bottle, doesn't mean it's going to be good. Believe me, it's not. Choose wisely folks.

*another sip of non Snickers flavored coffee, now breakfast time*