Yeah, Phillies!!!

This is Raul Ibanez- a new Phillie and now one of my favorite Phillies. Lots of people groaned and grumbled when Pat Burrell left after last season and the Phillies brought in Ibanez to replace him, but with the way Ibanez has been playing lately, the whiners have mostly gone silent now. And, after the sweep this weekend, the whiners will have to wait to find anything else to complain about- at least for a day or two.

It's Sunday evening- my frequent time to post. All the usual is in action- lots of laundry in process, still have to iron something to wear to school tomorrow, charge the cell phone, etc. Dinner is in the crockpot and a bunch of TV shows I missed this week are waiting on the DVR.

I think I'm finished fiddling with the blog for a little while, at least. I finally managed to get it set up to use one of the MANY blog backgrounds from CUTEST BLOG ON THE BLOCK and chose this one (called Patriotic) as Memorial Day approaches. They have some fantastic backgrounds but for me I like this clean, simple style.

Which reminds me! Have any of the stampers out there been following the growth of the Clean and Simple style at SCS? There is now a weekly CAS challenge and a weekly CAS favorites thread. There is also a keyword, CAS, that you can use to search the galleries for Clean and Simple cards.

Most of my cards miss the definition of CAS because I like big images that require a lot of coloring and CAS usually means simple images and lots of "white space", but I like the approach a lot and, for me, my cards are also clean and simple. I am really looking forward to a) making more progress in organizing the "craft room" and b) having the time come summer to do more cardmaking.

I am also starting to get into "summer" mode as I begin to assemble the large collection of books that I want for reading at the shore. I went back to book one of the Amelia Peabody series last night and it was a joy to remember how the many adventures all began. Elizabeth Peters studied Egyptology at the famed Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago- and I do wonder if perhaps the treatment she received in the 1950's as a woman who wanted to be an archeologist doesn't significantly color the character of Amelia? Whatever her origins, Amelia is delightful and I am looking forward to re-reading the entire series in order over the next few months.

Well, the men-folk are whining they want dinner, and the crockpot should have done its magic by now, so I'm off.