Googleganger update

Dave's Googleganger is a federally-prosecuted tax evader.

Googleganger

My friend Emily Brunner has a Googleganger (read: woman with the same name that competes with her for top billing when you Google the name Emily Brunner) that is out of control. My Emily is panicking about this because she's a PhD candidate and teacher at the University of Chicago and her students often Google her to find out what she's into. When they do, they get info on the Sisterhood of Avalon, a nutty lunar-based religious organization for women. The sort of women that paint celtic symbols in their menstrual blood. (Okay, I made that up, but it seems like the kind of group that would do that.) You can see why she doesn't want her students to mistake her for this other woman, but she looks super crazy if she mentions it in class!

This whole drama got me wondering if I have a Googleganger. I checked, and there is a woman named Laura Pflum from Montana that I actually knew about already because she found me on Facebook. I'm ok with her because she works for the Governor of Montana and seems pretty normal. She's actually a lot like me, but a few years behind. She's slightly younger, slightly cuter, and has a slightly better job. I take it back- I hate her!!! : )

Do YOU have a Googleganger?

Budgeting....

Oh, it is past time for Team Pflum to start some better budgeting practices. The good news is that we've found lots of places to cut costs, and after implementing them we'll be just fine till graduation day. If you're interested in a high tech way to figure out your budget, I highly recommend Mint, which links to all of your accounts and tracks spending.

Every time I look at anything vaguely financial I get a headache. But I always feel better once I'm better informed....

Lazy day....

We're enjoying a much needed weekend at home, and I'm blogging because I'm afraid that ND will lose to Navy if I look up from this computer screen. And because I haven't blogged in a while. Things here are good- the weather is rainy and cold, and we're bundled up quite nicely. Tonight we're going to a disco party and I can't decide what to wear. I think if I teased Dave's hair enough, it could be a pretty nice afro. I have platform boots and pink tights- seems 70's-ish to me....

This game is giving me a bit of a scare. The Navy fans are shouting "overrated" at Notre Dame as if ND was rated something other than crappy at any point in the season. Stupid college kids....

Okay, the game is over. It was closer than it should have been, but a win's a win. Apparently Charlie Weis doesn't care if I hyperventilate or not.

Boo Bash!

We are so excited to be heading to Cincinnati today for Boo Bash at Bart and Mollie's. This is the annual Halloween party that is not to be missed. Extra special treat- we get to see friends Brian and Julie for the first time since they moved to Milwaukee. I'll definitely post pics from the costume competition when we get back- no hints until then!

Okay, I'm back to normal!

Feeling decisive again today, thankyouverymuch! There's just no place for apathy in this world. Plus, I was scaring Dave. He doesn't want to be forced to make the decisions.

Friday we're heading to Nashville to see David Sedaris speak. He's an absolutely hilarious author and speaker. I've seen him before and can't wait to go again! We'll be staying with our friend Melissa Wibbens who will definitely show us a good time. She's the best!

Decisions, decisions...

I generally relish the thought of being in charge of my own destiny. I love decision making- some would say that I often put a little too much thought and energy into even the most minor decisions. Today, however, I am officially sick and tired of it.

It started with a twinge on Sunday. Dave asked, as he asks every night, what we were having for dinner. I realized that not only did I not know, I did not care. Yesterday I didn't really care what we watched on TV or how many games of euchre we played with our dinner guests. This morning I couldn't think of anything to wear so I pretty much put on what I wore yesterday. (It was fairly clean Mom, with new undergarments!)

Is it possible that the little things don't matter to me anymore? Paper or plastic? Boxers or briefs? (Admittedly, I never cared about that one...) Bedtime at 10:30 or 11? A Star is Born with Judy Garland or A Star is Born with Barbara Streisand? They're all fine with me.

I feel a little lost- I figured I would be picky and judgmental for life. I'll give it a week and see if I go back to normal...

A little help, please....

I can't tell you the amount of time I spend thinking about things that I can't believe haven't been invented yet. This is not to say that I can invent them, just that I think someone should. Perhaps this obsession is just a function of my laziness- I really want some inventions to help with the things I find tedious. Here are a few from my list:

• A washer/dryer combo that washes clothes and drys them automatically without needing to change machines. Big space saver! Bonus points if the inventor can teach it how to fold...
  
• A contraption on the front of your car that acts like a big built-in broom- it would sweep all the snow off the car from front to back, then return to it's original position. You could attach it only in winter (it would look like those big brushes at the car wash). It could even have built-in heaters to melt ice.
• A laptop with a printer built in- it would just hold a small amount of paper somewhere in the base, then you could take it on vacation and print out your boarding pass from your own room.

Help me, people! Please share your invention ideas and feel free to critique mine...

Go Cubs Go!

We need all the rooting we can handle. Please send good thoughts to our sweet Cubbies, and particularly to Carlos Zambrano who gets a little reckless from time to time. Also Alfonso Soriano, who seems to have a post-season mental block.

On another note, the weather down here is finally what we've been wishing for. Cool and sunny- perfect for any outdoor activity. Also perfect for light sweaters and boots, which I've been dying to pull out of the back of the closet for a month. Hooray for October!

And a bit of politics...

I try to stay away from the political in two places- at Curves and on the blog. Anywhere else is fair game. Here are my reasons. At Curves, the women are trying to work out and feel good about themselves, so we try to avoid discussing things that would make people feel uncomfortable. Not fair to freak out the captive audience. I try not to talk politics on the blog because our government scares me and I don't want my rants to inspire any secret wiretapping.

This morning, the women of Curves must have forgotten the cardinal rule, because they started in on the "liberal media," particularly referring to Katie Couric's "snotty" treatment of Sarah Palin. I restrained myself like the grown-up I'm trying to become because I wish to work out in peace for the next 9 months without people whispering that I'm a communist. So now I have to tell you what I really wanted to tell them.

Dear Curves Ladies,

Katie Couric makes Barbara Walters look like Tim Russert much in the same way that Wayne Brady makes Bryant Gumble look like Malcolm X. That is, she practically picked Palin up and carried her through the interview! The only reason the oh-so-secretive campaign allowed Couric to interview her in the first place is because of her fairly tame questions, and the fact that Palin wilted like a hothouse flower is not Couric's fault. McCain keeps talking about how tough this woman is, so stop whining about how unfair it is that she has to take questions about her knowlege of foreign and domestic affairs! My journalistic hero, Tim Russert, would have smacked her upside the head after about 20 seconds of this nonsense, and I wouldn't have blamed him.

Thanks for listening, gang : ) And once again, GO CUBS!

I'm back, baby!

I have no good excuse for my lack of communication, but we sure have had fun over the past few months! Lots of traveling, family, friends, singing and dancing, etc.... You name it, we've done it.

First things first. To the Jews in my life, Shana Tova! I had a lovely time at services today with my friend Lauren Goldberg and her family here in Louisville. You haven't really had a good chuckle until you've heard a rabbi say ya'll.

Last weekend Dave went to Philly for a conference. He was less than thrilled. I, on the other hand, went to Cincinnati to have a meeting and hang with Bart and Mollie. Cousin Lauren met us out- it was great to see her! (Lauren is also the reason I remembered to blog again- she throws down a pretty impressive guilt trip : )

We are in Louisville with very few plans for the next two weekends, and this is a good thing. Team Pflum is sleepy. I have to go now- the cat is eating a golf tee. Go Cubs!!!!!!

Cubs win!

Cubs win, Cubs win!!!! Take that, White Sox!!!! The best part is that we had to watch on WGN with Sox announcers... after a whole game of listening to their obnoxious Cub-hating, they finally got what was coming to them with a 9th inning solo shot from Aramis Ramirez. Go Cubbies!!!

Viva Las Vegas and other news

Well, it's been a while. Since I last blogged, I have partied in both Vegas and Cincinnati, and both were a good time. I went to Vegas last Monday through Thursday to play with my buddy Jennie before she moves away from Louisville to SW Kentucky. We had a lovely time- buffets for breakfast, pool all day, slots and sports books at night. I bet on the Cubbies twice, and they won both times! It was nice to have some girl time. Dave stayed home to hold down the fort, but he didn't suffer too badly on his own. In his words, he spent the whole time "golfing whenever I wanted and eating whatever I wanted!" We missed each other nonetheless, so I'm happy to be home.

So I got home Thursday night (technically Friday morning, I guess) at 2 am. We promptly turned around and hopped in the car to Cincinnati at 4 pm that very same day to celebrate Mollie's 30th birthday. We had a great time with the Labedas as always, and the party Saturday night was really fun!

I've been getting back into the swing of things this week. Back to work and making my own breakfast. No pool, no slots : ( Tonight we have a graduation party for the second year students in Dave's program. After this he'll be big man on campus and officially one year from graduation! Tomorrow morning we'll head to Chicago for Joe and Xiaowei's wedding. We get to stay with Allie and Michael and see lots of friends- too bad we won't be able to go to Wrigley to see the Cubs beat the Sox! Sunday we've got lunch with Mom and Dad in the city- they'll be in to see Jersey Boys, so the timing was perfect.

Busy, busy!

A very relaxing weekend!

I hardly ever get to say that we had a relaxing weekend, but we did! Last weekend was pretty crazy, so we needed to chill for a bit. We went up to Lafayette last Friday, down to Indy on Saturday where we partied with Cara and Scott (and everyone they know) before heading to the 500 Sunday. By the time we got back on Monday we were happy but exhausted.

Back to this weekend... Friday night, we played volleyball and won, which is pretty amazing considering some past performances. Saturday morning, Dave played golf and I did some stuff around the house, then we had some friends over for dinner and euchre. Went to bed nice and early, then Dave played golf again this morning while I slept in till about 9:15. I rarely sleep in anymore, and I have to say it was great. And I'm so pleased that Dave has found something that he enjoys even more than sleep. His golf game is improving daily, and he's getting lots of exercise with all that walking!

Today, Dave's been studying, and I went to the store and made dinner and all that boring stuff. But I'm in the best mood, I think because we just bummed around the house for once. We'll have to try this more often : ) The Cubbies continue to astound. I'm proud to call myself a fan.

Busy, busy!

I know. I'm lazy and slow to post, but I have excuses! We've been busy doing lots of fun stuff! Let's see, where did we leave off? Ahh, yes. Last weekend, we booked enough auto miles to make the oil industry squeal and environmentalists groan. We drove up to Michigan Thursday to see Sarah and Chris and little Delia, who is just delightful. She's cute as a button, and such a good girl! Never a complaint from that one- she's a good egg, as are her parents : )

Saturday we hit the road to South Bend to wish Mama Charlee a happy Mama's Day. Of course, we wish that both Mamas were in the same location, but we got to talk with Pam fresh from her trip down to see Grandma. I think Sunday was a good day for everyone!

We've had a great week so far. Wednesday we went to play in our new euchre league, which meets downtown weekly. We play at an awesome gay bar, so we got to meet lots of cool characters and new friends. Next time, we'll stay for karaoke... We played quite well and earned the respect of our fellow players. Somehow I got roped into doing a free press release and media pitching for the Kentucky Pride Parade, which is turning out to be a lot of fun!

Last night we went out to eat with Nina and Dave and their little Luca, who I swear has transformed from a relatively expressionless baby to a fully interactive little man overnight. He's adorable.

Tonight, we have volleyball, then friends over to hang out, then Pam and Keith come tomorrow for a visit. Such exciting lives we lead! In other fantastic news, the Cubs are swiftly kicking the butts of every team that dares to cross their path. I worry that they're peaking early, but that's better than sucking early, which is usually my complaint! Go Cubbies!

Derby Wrap-up

We had a great time at Derby, and the whole weekend was really an awesome time. Here are some highlights, albeit backwards because I can't figure out how to get the pics in order:

The right hand side pics are from Derby. We took a bus from downtown, the guys drank mint juleps, which are disgusting, and arrived among the unwashed masses of the infield. We also saw a really big grill- we once thought my dad had the biggest grill on Earth, but it turns out that he doesn't. Anyway, we had a great time!

Friday night we welcomed Allie and Michael and Julie and Brian. We went out to Fourth Street Live downtown to catch a free GooGoo Dolls concert. It was a lovely evening! As you can see, we hung out with lots of folks, consumed copious amounts of White Castle after, and were very happy to see each other!

Talk Derby to me

Wow! Derby is madness. Everyone's off work and partying already. Dave and I are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our buddies Allison and Michael from Chicago and Julie and Brian from Cincinnati. We've been cooking all day in preparation for our Saturday night dinner, and everything's finally prepared. We're planning to go to the infield tomorrow- wish us luck! Apparently it gets pretty crazy in there. More on this later, with censored photos...

A post for the ladies...

To our male readers, you may certainly read this, but it doesn't really apply to you. I have a product rave- I rarely endorse products over the phone, let alone on the blog, so you know this one's a winner.

My new dream product is the Maidenform back smoothing bra. There are several different styles, each with a patented back closure that doesn't give you lines on your back. They're lightweight and amazing. I got mine for $18 at Kohls, but here's the website.

Try them- you'll thank me later!

Movie progress

This weekend afforded us the opportunity to make serious headway on the movie list, which has proven to be quite daunting yet thoroughly enjoyable. We watched North by Northwest, which was a fabulous Hitchcock thriller starring Cary Grant (one of my favorites to look at!), on Thursday night. You just don't see debonair leading men like that anymore, so it was a great look back in film.

Yesterday we stayed around the house at night and first watched The Deer Hunter. I have to say that this was the most depressing and disturbing film I've ever seen, even after seeing A Clockwork Orange, and it was no less than three hours long. I walked around the house practically catatonic for about an hour after, speaking to no one and bursting into tears here and there. Dave deduced that the only thing that could save me from eternal sadness was another movie, so we watched MASH. It was a whole new perspective on war, to be sure, and quite funny. It really did the trick, and I feel much better as long as I don't think about The Deer Hunter anymore.

Next up are Taxi Driver, West Side Story and Lord of the Rings (the first one). We're pretty excited because neither of us have seen West Side Story for years, and we're both suckers for a good musical. Now we go to bed, exhausted from all the volleyball and strenuous movie-watching. It's a pretty good life : )

A note for Bart: Dave finally beat Super Mario Galaxy today. I am equally pleased, because I have served as co-pilot/moral support throughout his gaming experience. It was a sweet victory!

About the volleyball...

We won! We are the champions! Ok, in the interest of full disclosure, the other team only had four people show up so we played four on six, but we won!!!

Earthquakes, and other natural disasters...

So I've mentioned to several friends of the blog that Louisville seems to have an awful lot of weird, almost apocalyptic weather. I'm hoping that we haven't made any deities angry, because we had an earthquake this morning, and I'm pretty sure that isn't the norm for this area. Of course, Dave and I slept right through it and didn't feel a thing, but Mom, Craig and Cara all felt it in South Bend and Indy and it was a heck of a lot closer to us! Very strange happenings indeed. Many thanks to all who called to make sure we were alive. Made us feel very loved.

Tonight we start volleyball again. Time to get down and dirty- or sandy, as it were. I'll let ya'll know how we do. Hopefully we won't have any tornadoes or locusts....

Baby!

Hooray! Baby Delia is here- Sarah gave birth to a cutie little girl around 3 am this morning, and Dave and I are very proud Uncle and Auntie. Her full name is Delia Katharine Whaley, and she's a very nice size- 6lbs, 7oz. I'm totally going to put up the pics if her mom and dad are ok with me putting them on the internet... I should probably check first.

I'm so glad it's a girl. I've been eyeing a lot of girlie baby clothes lately, so I guess it's time to get shopping! Congrats, Sarah and Chris!

So clean!

We spent the entire weekend cleaning this filthy pit, and now it's a beautiful, shining beacon of perfection. I'm scared to cook in the kitchen for fear of messing it up. I removed everything from the fridge and cleaned it out, we mopped and vacuumed and swiffered and dusted until we were blue in the face and choking from cleaning product fumes. Dave's greatest accomplishment of the weekend was tackling the desk in our bedroom that had become a graveyard for old, useless papers. He did a wonderful job! We also got rid of no fewer than 3 old lamps and many non-functioning electronics, including a TV that was just taking up space in our storage closet. We set up my office so it can actually be used as an office! Tonight I'm going through all of my clothes and saying goodbye to those that don't make the cut. I'm sure that a younger, singler, thinner woman will appreciate my halter tops and mini skirts from college, cause they ain't going back on this girl!

Today is the Cubbies opening day, and I'm a really missing Chicago today. Here's hoping that the guys win big and don't get rained out!

Nice long weekend

We're finally back on schedule after a weekend that started on Thursday at noon and ended this morning. We had a great time at the Bruce Springsteen concert- at 58 years old, that guy rocked out on stage for more then 2.5 hours. It was impressive. The E-Street Band was great, too.

Friday morning we headed to South Bend, where we had a nice weekend with the family, less Cara who was home with a cold. Good news today on the Cara front though- she's feeling better, and she passed her board exam. Congrats, Cara!

The new and improved skinny Dave got lots of new clothes at Kohl's this weekend at very reasonable prices, courtesy of Mama Charlee. Thanks, Mama. If you haven't checked that place out yet, I recommend that you do. It's kind of like Target, but some of the stuff is nicer. I know, I thought I'd never blaspheme about Target, but Kohl's may be my new place...

Our Easter was lovely, if not the traditional one that most think of. We had breakfast in South Bend, followed by a long drive home and Easter sushi for dinner. I love Japanese and Chinese restaurants- they're always open when everyone else closes shop.

Not much else to report here- we're home for the next two weekends, so we'll be watching lots of movies and cleaning the house.... it's gross right now.

Very disturbing photo... but kinda funny!

Weekend fun

We had a great weekend, and visited with lots of fun folks! Friday night, we made a last minute trip to Indy to celebrate with Cara. She just finished taking her first board exam, which Dave can tell you is quite terrifying. She's really glad it's over. We got to see Jeff, Ryan, Michael, Marcie, Scott and more! It was a great time.

Saturday afternoon we headed down to Connersville to visit with Grandma B. We had lots of fun, ate many delicious meals and had plenty of great conversation. Plus, we got to see landmarks from Keith's childhood, which is always neat. We also watched the movie 3:10 to Yuma, which was very good! We never watch movies that aren't on the list anymore, so it's nice to see a newer film...

This week is shaping up to be a good time. We've got Jennie and James coming over for a St. Pattie's Day feast-ivul, and on Thursday we head to Indy to see Bruce Springsteen. Today through Wednesday I'm hunkering down and getting lots of work and laundry done.

Movie update- yesterday we watched The African Queen. It was wonderful. Hepburn and Bogart are really the best.

Have a great week, everyone!

As promised, photos from the weekend!

Movies, movies

We've had so much fun lately that I've forgotten to update ya'll on our movie progress. The best way I can describe the movies of the past week is to say that most have featured leading ladies in various states of craziness. The craziness, however, proved to be no impediment to their fabulous acting prowess. I sense also that, since these movies were mostly from the sixties and seventies, the worst kind of crazy had yet to come for many of them.

Notable films included Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, featuring the always crazy but always lovely Elizabeth Taylor. Her character was so scary (Richard Burton deserves props here, too- he acted pretty crazy) that I had to put the DVD back in the mail as soon as we finished watching it to cleanse the house of the eerie feeling.

Network was a fantastic, funny satire, featuring a somewhat crazy Faye Dunaway. Loved it. Same goes for Cabaret, which we watched tonight. Liza Minnelli was really wonderful in it, and her craziness is understandable. I think being Judy Garland's daughter was rough.

So far the craziest movie was A Clockwork Orange. It was really well done artistically, and we both appreciated the film in all it's X-rated glory. But it gave me nightmares for a week- thanks a lot, Stanley Kubrick.

More on this later- tomorrow is The African Queen. Katharine Hepburn was a little crazy, wasn't she?

Great weekend, despite some issues...

So Bart, Mollie (of Cincinnati) and Craig (of South Bend) came down this weekend. When they called to check on the weather, I told them that the weather people here are liars and there's no way we'll get more than a couple inches of snow.

Well it turns out that the weather people are in fact liars, but it's because they way underestimated the magnitude of the storm that crushed Louisville on Friday night and Saturday morning. We got at least 10 inches! That's a big deal around here, and everyone was freaking out. The plows did a comical job of clearing the roads.... they'd get one lane under control and give up, so two way traffic wasn't really possible.

Despite the weather drama, we had a great weekend with the gang. We managed to dig out the Element and she got us around like a champ. We visited many interesting establishments, including barbecue at Bourbon Brothers and the drag show at Connections, an awesome local bar. A good time was had by all, and we thank our visitors for braving the storm to see us. It would've been a lame snowy weekend without them! Bart, pass along some pics when you get home and I'll post 'em right away.

Babies, babies...

Oh, where to start.... Nina and her Dave came over for dinner on Thursday night, where she announced that the baby was coming in the next few weeks- a bit sooner than her original due date. She was pleased, but not really feeling anything big on the horizon. Of course, on Friday morning at 8 am I get a text message that her water broke and she's on her way to the hospital. Her little boy, Luca, was born at 11:45 that evening (seems like a lot of pushing!), and he and Mom are doing great. We're going over tomorrow night to bring food. Since I don't know anything about babies, I show my love by making casseroles.... she seems to be pleased with that arrangement.

On to the next pregnant lady. We had Sarah's baby shower on Saturday in Lafayette, and it was a great time. Notable guests included friends-of-the-blog Grandma B, Mamas Charlee and Pam, and many more desireables. My sis-in-law Katie turned out to be my soulmate-in-party-planning. She really did a great job with invites, renting things, creating beautiful centerpieces and so much more. My job, which was tailored to my less organized skills, was to make food for the affair. I did soup, chicken salad and a couple desserts, and the food went over really well! I'm pleased that folks enjoyed it, plus I'm fairly certain I didn't poison anyone. Whew! Sarah made out like a bandit- she got lots of great gifts, so little Ukulele Whaley will be all set when he/she arrives.

Tonight I was so over cooking. I made frozen pizza and salad (although I'll admit that the salad was pretty fancy and required much chopping and dressing making), and after dinner we hit our favorite bar, Big Al's. This place is truly hillbilly, but we love the people there and they love us. We get a Cheers-like greeting whenever we enter and free beers from our peeps there, even though we don't go that often!

We're excited about the next several weekends. I'll give you a preview of our plans and update with longer posts later. This weekend, Bart and Mollie come in. Always a rockin' good time! Next weekend, we're off to Grandma B's. We never get quality time with just the three of us, so we're looking forward to hanging out with her. Following Thursday, we're going to see Bruce Springsteen with Mom and Dad Pip, plus Cara and Craig in Indy. After the show we're heading up to South Bend for our first weekend since early December. We're pumped. Four weekends in a row (counting last weekend!) with some of our favorite people.

People always say that it seems like we spend a ton of time away from the Lou. This is true, but what's a couple to do when almost all of their friends and family are out of town? We get in our Hondas and drive!

Taxes!

It's rare that I admit that something confuses me, but I don't mind telling you that I don't really understand tax returns. I mean, I understand what taxes are for, and that we wouldn't have schools or a fire department (state and local), or an endless war of mass destruction (federal) without them. What I don't understand is why it's always such a surprise when we get our tax documents back from the accountant. We could owe a billion or be owed a billion, and I never know why. It's like playing the freaking lottery every time we open that envelope.

And I know you're supposed to be happy when you get money back, but that really ticks me off! I would rather keep my money throughout the year than give the government my money to play with tax free. Grrrrr....

In other news, we finally got a universal remote to replace the six remotes we were using daily. So you can all rest assured that you'll finally be able to work our TV when you come to visit.

Another weekend is upon us

The sun is out, the temp is rising, and finally the snow is melting down here. I gotta tell ya, Louisville is not the town to hang out in when there's winter weather. The plows aren't there, the salt isn't there, the snow and ice just sit there until the sun takes care of them. It's a very interesting method... not one that would work for long up north.

We're excited to have one of our favorite visitors this weekend, our buddy Brandi from Indy. You may recall that she was last in town in August, when we had the crazy southern food fest at Jennie and James' apartment. I'm hoping someone will cook for us this weekend too, but it seems doubtful.

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. I got a card, some beautiful flowers that the kitties would like to eat, and a Reese's peanut butter heart. Dave got a card, a case of Diet Mountain Dew, and a cupcake from the Pie Kitchen. We went out for sushi and took a moment to remember how lucky we are to be so happy together. It's a good life.

Spring is almost sprung down here and with spring comes babies. Sarah and Nina will be having theirs pretty soon, and the horses decided that this was the week for them. The pic here is of Mom and Dad's new baby, Payton. She came on Tuesday, followed shortly by little Ellie who was born on Wednesday. Mom's exhausted because they were both born during the day while Dad was at work, so she had to help with the pushing. But they're both cute little darlings and doing great. They were to be named Peyton and Eli if they were both boys, but alas, we can't do much about these things.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Too long!

It's been too long since my last post, I know. We've been all over the place for the past few weeks. We went to Indy twice, Chicago once, and I had a very happy (but cold) birthday! We're finally home for the next three weekends in a row, which is both exciting and boring. Exciting because we couldn't possibly drive another minute and because we get to see all that Louisville has to offer. Boring because Louisville can only offer so much and we only have 5 friends.

One of those 5 friends, Nina, had a baby shower this weekend, and it was great to get together with all the ladies. I got to see my old friend Melissa Levy, my long-lost college buddy Joscelyn, and what seemed like hundreds of Nina's aunts and female cousins, who all look very similar....

There were many baby shower-ish games, including one where we had to guess how big Nina's belly was. She really handled it like a pro- if I'm ever preggers and you try to guess how fat I am, you'd better hope my foot can't reach your face! There's no way we're making Sarah participate in any of that craziness in March...

Today we're cleaning the house and looking forward to watching the Super Bowl with friends. Have a great week everyone!

Walking the walk

Dave and I have been doing a surprisingly good job (and yes, I am tooting my own horn) of keeping up with our New Year's resolutions, which were to:

• Do a better job of recycling (we found a drop off place since we don't have pick up here)
• Be more conscious of conserving water and energy around the house
• Exercise more
• Track calorie consumption (particularly through portion size) more carefully, and adjust eating habits where necessary
• And most importantly... don't bother other people with our resolutions or expect them to do the same. Nothing's more annoying than eating a meal with someone who judges what you're eating.

I figure I'm not bothering you guys by telling you because, let's face it, you came to the blog to read what we've been up to. We've been power walking and eating quinoa. If I called to tell you, that would be bothering : ) And if you happen to be my mother or mother-in-law, you deserve to be bothered because that's what you're there for, right?

Anyway, we've been feeling so great about ourselves lately that I needed to read something explaining why born-again fervency for clean living makes us feel so great. It came in the form of a very good but very long article in the New York Times magazine about morality. I'm placing the link below, just click on the title. You'll feel morally superior if you can get all the way through it. The Colts are about to lose in a way that only the Colts can, so I need all the distractions I can get. Have a great week.

The Moral Instinct

Super Duper Weekend

We had a great time with Bart and Mollie this weekend. They came to visit us here in the Lou, and it was just like old times, except with a different bar. We went out for good food, enjoyed hours of Super Mario Galaxy on the Wii, sat in the "Godfather" room at Saints (a cool bar down here), and just generally enjoyed each other's company. We were sad to see them go this afternoon, but we'll be seeing them again in Indy in two weeks. The fun truly never ends for the Pflums.

Happy New Year, Ya'll!

I hope everyone had a great New Year's. We had a wonderful time in Indy and I was lucky to hug and kiss Dave, Cara, Craig and Jeff at midnight. Feel the love! Hopefully I didn't give them my cold, which seems to be waning quite nicely today.

I made brownies for the party with my new stand mixer, courtesy of Pam and Keith on Christmas. It makes everything easier, seriously! I may just give Susie a run for her money with my vastly improved baking skills....

Today Dave went back to school and I went back to working and working out. The ladies at Curves missed me, although I gotta admit, I haven't thought much about them lately. Despite being sorta sad that our uber-vacation is over, we're glad to be back to the routine.

In other news, the kitties officially started their diet today, and Sly has his tubby friend Earl to thank for this one. Instead of getting an all day, all night smorgasbord, the boys are now treated to three 15 minute intervals of food availability per day, but they're not smart enough to figure out that they need to eat during those times yet. So they're looking at me like they're hungry. Many annoying meows to follow, I'm sure. More on this later!