It's Fall, Y'all

It's too late for a cup of coffee, but not too late for a blog post.

And it's never too late to talk about fall.

Fall is my favorite time of year I have recently discovered. It signals cooler temperatures, football of course and my favorite tastes of the year.

I know many of you hate Candy Corn, but I really like the Harvest corn and especially these pumpkins. These are different then basic candy corn.

Pumpkin Spice! I have already finished two of these and have had a couple Dunkin' Pumpkin Spiced coffees as well.

Mmmm 🤤🤤🤤🤤pumpkin spice donut....also have had Apple cider ones as well (and of course some apple cider)

Spooky football cards! I managed to gather enough gift cards together from all of my apps to pull off a package of these. I thought they looked pretty cool upon seeing some images.

There are still some things I enjoy that I haven't gotten to yet. I occasionally like to turn on a horror movie from my childhood for background noise and nostalgia. I need to still make my annual apple bread and apple pie. And it's not colder weather without chicken and dumplings, soups and my favorite homemade chili with cornbread.

Can't wait for those.

*smiles/grins excitedly like the grinch before closing up today's post*

Hope everyone has a good night sleep, including myself.

Wake up, drink some coffee and enjoy your Tuesday.

Also, let me know your favorite fall treat in comments.

*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*

Me And MAHOM(i)Es

*sits down to his already second cup of coffee of the early morning. Looks over his shoulder at the breakfast offerings and is intrigued on which ones to pick...what will the decision be?*

As the days of September roll on, the cooler weather has started coming in. This means foliage, football and the taste of fall to have with my coffee.

My wife and I were stuck in line at the grocery store just waiting to get to checkout, that's when we noticed a nearby display of some tantalizing treats.

Everyone knows that every grocery store is as evil as the Amityville house. They purposely know that you haven't had lunch, they put their best baked goods up front and purposely have their cashiers go slower than squeezing honey out of a bottle to make you stare, drool, and be tempted to grab those items. Which works pretty much every time.

(insert evil store laugh, let's say a Tim Curry one)

And on that day, it targeted us and knew we hadn't eaten lunch yet and were waiting what felt like years in line. If you haven't also noticed, a lot of these evil grocery stores will stick the 80 year old cashier on while the 20 year old bags the groceries. Why not switch that around? Well, the baked goods wouldn't end up in your cart that way....and that's what a variety of donuts did that day.

(another evil store laugh, this time insert Jack Nicholson with the Joker laugh)

*takes another sip of coffee, begins to open up one of the packages of donuts*

The taste of fall offering is what we grabbed that day.

This is a Pumpkin with cream cheese frosting

 

This is an Apple Cider one with caramel topping

And there were plain versions to both as well with Pumpkin Spice and Apple Cider. Which after trying a couple made me feel, well, the donuts explain it the best.

*decides on a plain pumpkin to go with this cup of coffee, grabs one and closes the lid. Even though I could eat a few, gotta limit my intake right now with a few health issues lingering*

In the hobby, just like at the grocery store, there are evils that lie beneath the surface. Some are obvious, some are not. Some are used to manipulate your mind into telling you that you need something when you most likely don't. You know, those donuts.

One of those evils took over me.

Something supernatural in 2019 made me want to start collecting some Patrick Mahomes cards. I don't know if it's because his cards were hot/popular, because he is likable, or is it because of the underlying money value. For whatever evil reason, I started a very small PC of him that I have been adding to.

A couple of months ago, I was looking to add a few cards of Patrick and found an unopened pack of 2017 Elite Draft listed on eBay. Instead of buying the Elite Draft rookie card outright for $25-$30, I decided instead to grab the pack for half that. Figured it was worth the shot if I could land it for cheaper and who doesn't like a fun rip. I also noticed that these packs usually sell for as much as the rookie card and that I had stumbled upon a deal at the time.

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

In every 2017 Elite Draft fat pack you get 20 cards. Most packs go for $20+ but I landed this one for $16.  There is also one orange status die cut parallel per pack. My hope was at the very least land the base Mahomes rookie, but an autograph or the orange status die cut parallel would be amazing.

*takes a sip before sifting through cards*

There are 199 cards in the base set, for some reason there is no card 101, this is very paranormal, and features 100 veterans. My pack had 12 veteran base cards within.

The next 7 cards in my pack were rookies. With 99 rookies in the base set, landing the Mahomes wasn't going to be easy. And as I expected, it wasn't. Not much to brag about in this group....

But I did land one of the top rookies of that draft in Alvin Kamara. I would place him third behind Mahomes and Watson, so not going to complain.

 

My last hope was the orange die cut parallel for my Mahomes.....nope. Some QB named Kirk Cousins. Angelic designed one however.

It was a fun try in this pack. The Cousins looks nice and I did land a Kamara so not too much to complain about. Some of the pack will be PC adds, while the rest heads to trade bait which is a win in my books.

*takes another bite of doughnut, another sip or two or three of coffee and tries to sum up this post*

My Mahomes PC may be missing this Elite Draft rookie, but I did manage to add other rookie cards in trades,some I had and even discovered I had recently. Been adding some base, inserts and parallels when I can to. Something that started out on a whim has grown. It's just me and Mahom(i)es.

The doughnut PC however, has some HOLES now but I am still fulFILLED by it.

 I wished the grocery store was set up like it used to be in the 90's when they had packs of cards upfront by the register, that is something I could go for and no longer worry about their bakery evil goodness. Well, maybe.

*cup of coffee done, corny jokes have been had and this blogger is out*

*closes laptop*

Blocked In

*sits down with a freshly brewed cup from the Keurig, was it because his coffee maker was broken? Nope. It's blocked in right now and since life can't go on without coffee, so goes to the second best route*

Why is my coffee maker blocked in? Well, that's because my wife and I have been on a canning spree.

(there's the ole coffee maker in the back)

Between the amount of pickles, dilly beans and salsa we have made so far and haven't had the chance to put away yet, there's no counter space for my beloved best friend Mr. Black+Decker. He's the one friend I can usually rely on throughout my day. Always has my back and my fills my soul.

But, it's creeping in on Fall and this is the kind of stuff we do when it is around the corner. Well except buy a bunch of Pumpkin spice stuff, more on that another time. For now, I will enjoy the smells that all of this brings.

I always miss summer with the sun and warm temperatures around this time of year as it starts to get a tad cooler, but there also comes that time where I am ready for it to cool down. It's been one of the hottest summers on record here so I don't mind moving into the next phase. That's what great about having four seasons unlike a lot of places where it's summer all of the time. I wouldn't survive and need the variety in my life.

*takes another sip of coffee, gets ready for the cards portion of this post*

In the hobby, I have also been blocked in by my want list for years. There is so much I want in the cardosphere that I want to keep expanding my list on but I don't. I have been blocked in by whats already on there and don't feel like I should keep adding to it until I knock more down. Occasionally I am able to knock down a card or two, but there are still so many big ones on there that I may never get to accomplish it or be able to add to it.

Or will I?

In my latest trade with Dions Autograph Collection, I really made some headway on a few of those wants. Especially when it comes to my baseball want list.

First up, we will take a look at some football cards I traded for that were not on my want list but were cards I wanted. Yes, there is a difference in that.

Cards On The Want List:Usually dream cards you hope to own

Cards You Want:Spur of the moment, fits your collection cards.

Here they are,

Three more Daniel Jones rookies for the PC. I really need to do a complete number update on my Jones collection.

Prizm Jones rookie. This was technically on my want list as I wanted a second one for my PC. Just in case he breaks out and I don't get another. So I will partially count this as a want knocked down despite already owning one. We will get to the real knockdowns soon.

I crossed off a much wanted Drew Lock Prizm rookie a few weeks ago, but, when you see another in a trade you grab it. This time though, its a Red White and Blue version. Prizm sure is pretty. Just like our canning jar of goods.

 

*another sip of coffee. Looks at his hand of remaining cards and smiles knowing what's remaining to show off*

 

And now onto the big part of the trade for my want lists. These were actually cards I thought I would never own of Hall Of Famers but finally do now.

I do own a rookie of Gwynn with the O-Pee-Chee version, but to me it's a knock off to the Topps one and really wanted the real brand. Now I have it. Yes, the centering on it isn't beautiful, but that's not what I am about. I just wanted the rookie card.

Second card, George Brett rookie. I know many don't care for this design, but I do. I like the color schemes and to me it's one of the iconic Topps designs.

And lastly, a Rickey Henderson rookie! Holy Topps Rickey Henderson Batman! This one I never thought I would have in hand.

*takes another sip, realizes one more item was stuck behind the Henderson. I guess you can say that Henderson had it blocked in....*

 

This one wasn't on my want list for basketball, but it's such a cool piece I added it,

Also in this trade was a 1988 Fleer Michael Jordan sticker. Great centerpiece for my MJ collection.

*few more sips to finish up this post. Trying to decide what breakfast will be*

Three big milestones in this trade knocked down and now my want list needs an update. I will have to look at my baseball want list again to see if there is room to expand or will I still be blocked in by what remains.

I just hope my coffee maker won't be blocked in much longer by an ever expanding canning operation. Will be doing some spaghetti sauce today for the first time but also will be purchasing a shelf hopefully to store this stuff on. I can't go another day without my coffee maker in sight.