Cute Stamps

Originally posted September 19, 2025

As you may or may not have heard, our little lulu is getting married! Thankfully, I am in charge of very little up until now. That said, this week I was tasked with finding "cute stamps" for her save the date letters and this is the adventure that ensued.

In other news, I've also started walking to my favorite mailboxes around town to drop off my TCDb trades to work on de-hermitting myself from the house and also get more exercise. Gotta get right and get tight for the big day too! Let's strap on our trusty UW-Stevens Point backpack, Freak's on the shirt, and Freaks on the feet so we can get on our merry way.

UW-Stevens Point postcard with bold purple lettering — UW-Stevens Point branding reference

Milwaukee Bucks in six celebration poster — Milwaukee Bucks inspiration graphic

First stop, the Little Diner Xpress. When I wander off to the east (shouts to Pete's Auto) I like to stop at this diner and have some breakfast, whether is actually breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I would eat breakfast for every meal if I could, but I digress. I was talking to dad earlier this month about George Webb having a location in Appleton years ago, and it turns out, this is that location. What a coinky-dink. Go Brew Crew.

Speaking of our father, I walked out of there with a toothpick because I was raised right. Plus, nikkigirl gets a little randy when unclejimmy shows up with a toothpick in his mouth.

Little Diner Xpress postcard with playful signage — Little Diner Xpress illustration

Retro breakfast menu layout in warm colors — Vintage menu reference

Brunch poster celebrating weekend specials — Brunch themed postcard concept

Toothpick illustration with bright diner palette — Toothpick packaging artwork

Next stop, the US Postal Service. Speaking of randy, there are few things that get me more excited than the USPS. Ask around, it is true. More on this to close the post.

My plan was to walk up to one of the associates behind the counter that would recognize me and have some fun with them, asking for some cute stamps and a selfie so I could show lulu. Instead, it was someone I do not interact with much, and when I tell you she was dead inside, I mean she was really dead inside. There was no fun to be had. USPS workers are the real MVP - they hate their job regardless of the current president, so in some ways, we could all take some inspiration from them.

I also forgot to take a selfie of the Post Office, but guess what? A truck stopped on the street on my way home. I was very excited for the help, as per usual. You can see the middle school the little two went too behind us. Middle school is for suckers. So says lulu and my teacher friends - I do not make up the rules.

USPS mailbox illustration with friendly lettering — USPS mailbox postcard

USPS delivery truck graphic in motion — USPS truck illustration

Have you ever seen the memes where someone stumbles, trips, and falls right into a situation that they definitely did not mean to fall into, except of course they did? That was me and Walgreens.

Oops!…I Did It Again. Somehow I bought cards for me and legos for nikkigirl. Both were on sale, so bingo bango. Walgreens is the best place to find discounted NBA cards in all of the land. Good job, Walgreens.

Walgreens storefront rendered with soft gradients — Walgreens postcard

Twenty two to twenty three Prizm basketball card box art — Prizm trading card packaging

LEGO Formula One car kit posed on a reflective surface — LEGO F1 collector set

As I got back to pounding the pavement, I was excited to remember that I would be passing the minimum security prison we send the teenagers to. What an absolute shithole Appleton West is. Good kids, though.

Lucky for me, eeeeeeeemma got a great parking spot today, and I took a little break in front of the prison at their painted rock. It is homecoming week for West and that says HOCO 2025 or something of the sort.

Hi Conrad.

Emma smiling in a vintage car illustration — Emma cruising illustration

Appleton West rock wall postcard with blue accents — Appleton West rock wall artwork

Finally, we arrive at the cute stamps. Here is what I came home with. I THINK SPONGEBOB STAMPS ARE CUTE.......and lulu does not. She chose the baby wild animals. Coming soon to an inbox near you.

That is cool though, more SpongeBob for me an my trading partners.

Cute stamps collage in coral tones — Cute stamps collage inspiration

As we close, a quick note on what I am working on. I will have some basic menus setup in the next few days and based upon this post, as well as the friction with deploying it, I will be working on some blogging features next week.

And then last, but not least, how about we chat about how amazing the USPS and TCDb are. My very first trade on TCDb was 2021-02-13. Since then, I have completed 2047 trades, 100% through the US Postal Service. While there have been a snafu or two, they deliver at a percentage that is entirely amazing. They are fantastic and I will not hear otherwise. Plus, spend a few hours waiting in line at the post office and you will begin to appreciate the absolute mountain of bullshit the employees go through with our fellow man. God bless the USPS.

A few more stats before we close - within those 2047 trades was a total of 76,214 cards (34,076 sent and 42,138 received). I have traded with 49 of the 50 states, including a few military bases that count as a state on the site, and 14 different countries - to include 794 unique partners. The most trades I have done with one individual is 24 with Shin in the San Francisco area. He is one of handful of people I have saved as a contact on my phone, and I would loosely consider him a friend, if not my best penpal.

I have correspondants for the Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers, New York Yankees, Seattle Kraken, and on, and on, and on. They all send me their Bucks cards, and I love them for it.

Now if only I could find one person that actually lives in Wyoming........

Happy Friday. ~ unclejimmy

Flowers: lulu, uw-stevens point, giannis, little diner xpress, pete's auto, george webb, the brew crew, dad, nikkigirl, breakfast, toothpicks, usps, walgreens, lego, f1, prisons, conrad, spongebob, tcdb, shin, & wyoming