Night Owl Cards

On the day after Christmas, I backed out of the driveway, turned to my right, and spotted a Christmas tree in a snowbank in front of a neighbor's house. This always depresses me. I hope that people who dispose of their tree the second it's not Christmas day have an allergy problem or the tree was a firetrap or something rational other than "I'm done with Christmas, bring on the dullest part of the year!!!" I'm one of those loonies who wants Christmas to last forever, or at least the 12 days that are sung about in the song. I want my ladies dancing and drummers drumming. Right now, for me, is the Christmas season. There are still Christmas cookies in the house, lights shining outside and those cloying Lifetime Christmas movies airing around the clock. Properly extending the Christmas season also gives me the perfect excuse to show some festive packages that were sent with the spirit of the season in mind that I mostly received before Christmas. For e...

Before I get to today's topic, I'd like to mention that Julie at A Cracked Bat is holding a contest in celebration of her 100th post. The prize is a bunch of quality cardboard! Personally, I'm hoping I don't win because I need to cut back. But secretly, I do hope I win so I don't have to take up golfing or some other more depressing hobby. So, anyway, I've mentioned a couple of times that I'd like to complete the 2015 Panini Americana set. I should have completed it by now because it's only 73 cards, but nonbaseball stuff is way, way down on the priority list and now that I've acquired most of the pretty girls in the set, where's the inspiration? But a little while ago I decided to take some action, and by that I mean begging another blogger to send me some cards from the set. Commish Bob of The Five Tool Collector grabbed some packs at the The Dollar Tree and instinctively wanted to get rid of them. I get it. It's not for everyone. ...

I had one of those ugly days at work yesterday. About as bad as it gets. A day that will linger into the months to come. That's how ugly. The next day, today, was a day off. And you know what that means: major decompression. Even if I wanted to do something today, the forces inside my body would conspire against me: "Do you know what happened to you yesterday???? Eat whatever you want! Do whatever you want! Sleep the entire damn day!" I can't resist the forces. I'm too weak from yesterday. So I hit the "decompress" button hard and shut down. No, I didn't sleep the entire damn day, but I did the next best mindless thing: I stuck stickers. Really, it's the proper thing to do when you can barely sit up. Find the right square. Peel. Stick. Do it again. That's the entire thought process. And, thanks to Bert at Swing And A Pop-Up , I received a whole bunch of stickers for the only sticker album I'm trying to fill -- the 1982 Topps St...

So, I have this sticker album from 1982. It came to me from across the ocean , because back in 1982 I had one and have no idea what became of it. Periodically, I find '82 stickers and it's a very giddy moment because I can pull out this sticker book and STICK, STICK, STICK THEM! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Still the book is not a big collecting priority because I've always been all about the cardboard. So the sticker book sits patiently waiting for some more stickers. Awhile ago, A Swing and a Pop-Up acquired some '82 stickers, because he's one of the original kings of the oddballs, and had a few extras to spare. I pounced quickly. And eagerly anticipated a sticking session. The stickers arrived: I could feel my whole body vibrating. There is no time to waste when a sticking opportunity strikes. I ran upstairs quickly and grabbed my sticker book, and started paging between gulps of air. Sadly, by the time I was done, there was just one sticker stuck. ...

This is a 1978 Hostess Don Sutton card that I don't own. In the last few weeks I've seen two different bloggers post this card, each being acquired at their respective shows in November. Normally, this would be a sign. It would be a signal that I was to go out and purchase this card immediately. The baseball card gods were speaking to me again. Unfortunately, that's not possible at this time. Until money can be spent, and I'm hoping by 2015, the '78 Hostess Sutton is going to have to get comfy in his shopping cart residence. I hope he decorates it nicely for Christmas. It will help us both get through. Meanwhile, one of those bloggers, Bert of Swing And A Pop-Up , sent me some Dodgers to ease the longing. But he didn't send trading cards. Instead, he sent two standbys of 1970 Dodgers memorabilia -- postcards and 5-by-7 photos. I've addressed both items before. I ordered the 1981 set of Dodgers postcards through the mail back in the early ...