Cracking me up : a trade with Julie

I have a very good friend in Julie (now now, don't be jealous, I love some of you too), and it's always a real treat to get one of her boxes in the mail, as I know it'll always be filled with fun stuff and great cards.

And a great (big) box it was, one that traveled across the ocean in just four days, and one that turned a crappy day (my Saturday was NOT going well) into a day filled with stars and fireworks.

Look at those beauties ! A paperback that was on my list of books to read (someone told me about it, but I can't remember who...maybe Tony ?), a George Bell plaque that was on no list of mine whatsoever and that may be one of the ugliest memorabilia ever made (which of course makes it awesome) - the joys of the 80s - , a very cool Joe Carter Starting Lineup that will soon be unsealed so I can display it on my desk (sorry George, you won't be making the cut) and finally, if you look closely, you'll see a Minion....dog tag ! Yup, absolutely. It isn't Kevin but hey, close enough.

Julie was afraid there would be a lot of cards I already had, but it turns out that she hardly sent any duplicates, and all the cards I'll be showing here are ones I needed for my collection.

Yup, I did not own Delgado's Bowman RC. Shame on me. Not sure I need a graded copy, but it's still a nice addition ! (oooooh, 9 !!)

One of a handful of Topps Chrome Blue Jays autos (the Devon Travis is on its way thanks to Jeff). This one is numbered out of 499.

When you're a team collector, you also collect purple 91 classic cards. It's part of the process.

Some old 86 mini cards (and complete Blue Jays set), and some new. And Dickey isn't blurry, he's just 3Dish.

Shiny Delgados !

A little bit of everything. The Wells is clear acetate and looks great, I love those Fan Favorites cards, it's always great to add new Carter cards, along with 90s inserts !

I love those oddball sets. Quaker Chewy granola bars. Quaker CHewy cards. Can't beat that. We do have Quaker Oats, here. Nobody buys it, but we have it.

 Those cards don't really fit my collection, but they must've been sent for a reason. I'm assuming the Buchholz one looks like a Blue Jays jersey (it's not) and 90s Alomar usually wears a Blue JAys uniform. I've added Mets cards to my general collecting needs, so I guess that's why they're included (and again, love those Fan Favorites)

Julie always includes cards that make me chuckle. To kill a mockingjay...now that's not very nice ! Chocolate covered sticks for beavers. Now that's a candybar filled with Canadian promise ! A couple of French boats, and one flag for my mom (she's from Toronto) and one for my dad (he's 100% French)

Whenever Julie sees basketball cards somewhere in her LCS, she picks them up for me. And I needed that Marbury for my very slow to grow Knicks collection.

Despite the huge box TJ sent me, I still (amazingly) need 18 000 Griffeys. Including those. And the 93 SC is one of my all time favorites (for sentimental reasons), so I'm happy to add that members only copy.

I really need to add more Bo Jackson football cards, I don't nearly have enough. And that Bo Breaker just may be one of the greatest cards ever made. I never could find a copy at what I deemed a reasonable price (IE less than .25 cts), so I was psyched to see it included !

Plenty of PC (nice Big Hurt in a football uni), including oddballs !

Julie collects Tigers, so it means a lot that she'd pass those along

Keith Hernandez cannot look bad on cardboard. Must be the mustache. "Chef Boyardee, 1988 1st annual Collector's edition". Wow.

I never get to scan Bieber cards, as I'm the one sending them out. But I Biebered P Town Tom, who re-Biebered Julie, who re-re-Biebered it, return to sender style. But you won't get rid of them that easy !

Thanks a lot, Julie, you brought a lot of joy in my little heart. I'll find a way to keep the ball rolling...