Blue Jay Monday: Staying within my limits

Part of the "re-born" vigor I have with the blog is the fact that I'm striving to stay within the budget.

When I first started the blog, I was anal in keeping track of the dollars and cents, probably a little too anal.  The past couple of weeks has been an exercise in maintaining the $30 budget, which for the past 15 months has been pretty "soft".  Card shows like the National, and the Hockey Expos in Toronto found me spending several times the weekly budget, and not giving it a second thought.

Attending big shows like that were good for the collection, and while I budgeted for the extra expenditures that those shows bring, I still was left with a bit of guilt for going above and beyond the stated parameters.

By focusing the past couple of weeks on keeping spending below the $30 limit, I have kept my eBay purchases to zero, while adding cards to the sets I'm working on for 2013, flagship and Heritage.

Thankfully, recent envelopes of goodness from a couple of bloggers have allowed my Blue Jay collection to increase.   First off, everyone's favorite Owl sent me about a dozen Jays, 4 of which I'll show off for you...

A lot of you may recognize the John Mayberry name from the Phillies roster this season, on the left here is his dad, John Mayberry Sr., the first real slugger that I can remember the Jays ever having.  Another jr. appears here, as Joe Coleman Jr played for the Jays in '78 before finishing his 15 year career the next season pitching in SF and Pittsburgh.  Bob Bailor has the distinction of being the first Blue Jay to hit .300 in a season by hitting .310 in 1977.

To go along with the 3 '79 Topps cards, I really enjoyed seeing this card:

Numbered 36/250, this Bowman Chrome blue parallel of Adam Lind is a welcome addition to the Blue Jays collection.

Not to be outdone, Josh from the Royals and Randoms blog sent me a handful of Jays out of the blue as well.  Speaking of serial numbered cards, Josh included a couple for me as well...

Again, neither of these were needed for the SNI set, but still they'll fit well into the Jays collection, which continues to grow.  This next card that Josh sent threw me off a little...

Designed very similar to the 2013 Topps die cut cards, this 2012 Bowman Chrome Legends in the Making die cut is a very cool looking, and confusing card.  No matter, it's still welcome here. 

Gents, thank you both very much for the cards!!  They are really appreciated.

Thanks for reading, Robert