Kitty Deschanel

Happy New Year! Sexy Nerd and I will be celebrating at the zoo. Yeah, we're fun and dorky like that. Sitting here trying to eat my toast ( yeowch !) it seems like an ideal time to look back on 2011. Let's see... I stepped outside (waaay outside) my comfort zone and attended Camp Blogaway . It's not something I would do again, but I'm impressed with my shy self for going. We bought 13 acres in the mountains for our future dream home ! Sexy Nerd and I became an uncle and aunt... fear of babies be darned. We traveled to Santa Fe (does this still count when you live in Albuquerque?) and San Francisco . Hmmm...what else? Pica resolved to act smarter in 2011. It didn't stick.  I showed you my pale, hairy leg. Here at LambAround, being classy is #1. As for 2012, I'm hoping we'll finally make it to Australia to sight see and visit my family. Sexy Nerd and I have been together 8 years and he still hasn't met my Papa! Craziness. Will we have a baby

My teeth are loose - a very unnerving quality as an adult. You always wanted an up close and personal view of my funky teeth, right? Despite having the nicest orthodontist in Albuquerque, there's no denying that braces suck ! Oh, my poor teeth are killing me. Teenage Me , who swore she would never get braces, is very upset with Grown Up Me! She was right all along. Seriously, everyone told me that my teeth would hurt for the first few days but then be fine. It has been 3 loooong weeks and my teeth are just as sore as when my braces were put on. Sexy Nerd says I'm a wimp. My boss, the pediatric dentist, says I really shouldn't expect to or try to eat anything solid, like a sandwich (!) until the braces come off and that a liquid diet would be best. I would probably lose a ton of weight over the next year...but chocolate cake, ice cream, and pudding are all so wonderfully soft!

You know those cute, romantic engagement stories? This is not one of those. Our engagement caught me off guard. We'd hardly been dating a year and, having just gotten out of the Worst Relationship Ever, which had been a twisted, rapey mess, I was barely keen on dating Sexy Nerd. Valentine's Day weekend, he checked us into a local hotel for a "romantic surprise". Ummm...yeah. We started by leaving the hotel to have dinner. When we returned, Sexy Nerd seemed disappointed. Then, there was a knock on the door. Room service had arrived with Champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries, and to sprinkle rose petals on our bed. Yes, rose petals on our bed ! Supposedly, the plan was for them to do this while we were out to dinner, but they were running behind and instead set this up right in front of us. Awkward, you think? Oh yes. In hindsight, the hotel should probably not have gone along with this. The Champagne was nice, but I was only 20 years old. I was feeling p

Straight from our neighborhood liason: WILDLIFE SPOTTED LAST WEEK    Wednesday, five deer were seen crossing by Golf Course and earlier in the day, a mountain lion was seen chasing five deer across the 18th Green.  Thanksgiving Day a golfer encountered the mountain lion between the 13th Green and 14th Tee Box.  It was about 20 yards away and the golfer chose to wisely let the cat play through. I think we're going to like our new home . You know, if we ever actually get it built!

Lookin' good, Sexy Nerd! (when I tell you to smile for the camera and instead you take a big bite of your sandwich, photos like this are going to happen.) I can't decide whether Pica and Biscuit are exceptionally well-behaved dogs or really stupid for ignoring my sandwich on the table.

The other day, I posted the following comment on The Spohrs Are Multipling : My all-time favorite holiday special was Santa Bear, which is so sad because I can't find it ANYWHERE! I had it recorded onto a VHS tape when I was younger but the tape no longer plays. Seriously, does anyone else remember this Christmas special? Santa Bear and Bully Bear switched places (naked, they looked identical) but Santa and Santa Bear's airplane-flying female pal saved the day! Every Christmas, I search online for Santa Bear and every year I'm out of luck. Until now! Enjoy :) What's the best part of all? This has the same 80s commercials as my old VHS recording! Ahh, simple times.

Have you been snatching up all the incredible Black Friday deals? Here's a bargain I just stumbled upon: $1 for a 5lb bag of mini neon sour gummy worms from bulkecandy.com ! There's a limit of 5 bags per order. After factoring in shipping, this comes out to just $18.67 for twenty five delicious pounds of gummy worm goodness! And, of course, if you're going to pay so much for shipping, you really ought to throw a few more discounted candy selections into your cart, don't you think? Sadly, there will be no candy for me. I'm scheduled to get my braces this Wednesday (with no jaw surgery). In a brilliant (brilliantly stupid) move, I agreed to help my orthodontist fill a hole in his schedule yesterday and had separators placed in between my teeth on the day before Thanksgiving. Yeeooooowch! So happy that all the best turkey day side dishes and desserts are soft.

Remember when I told you I was getting braces ? Nothing is ever simple, is it? So, it all started with a simple consultation for some cosmetic dentistry. My front teeth have always been a bit wacky (thank you to a clumsy 3rd grade face plant on the road) and I finally decided to have them fixed. But not so fast! Sure, the cosmetic dentist could fix just my front teeth, but was I aware that my molars were certainly going to fracture as I got older due to the horrible way my teeth fit together? Umm..no. So before redoing the build-ups on my front teeth, I needed braces. But wait! The orthodontist might be able to fix my bite with braces, but what may work best would be braces and (wait for it)...(suspenseful, right?)...jaw surgery!  "What would that entail?" I asked, completely horrified. "Nothing with the lower jaw, so not to worry. Just the upper," he reassured me. "They just break your upper jaw in two places. It will move everything. Your nose will move

Despite my trypanophobia , (thank you, Dr. Google !) I found myself in the CVS pharmacy a few weeks ago, being brave and getting my first ever flu shot. The last time I was sick, I missed nearly a week of work. I didn't want to repeat that scenario again this year. Sexy Nerd was feeling miserable and missed work on Tuesday, so I was extra pleased with my smart flu shot choice. Lousy sore throat. I drank some green tea with honey and ignored it. Stupid sinus pressure. Must be allergies. Get out of here, you dumb fever! The shot appears to have been for nothing. My boss and coworkers pushed me right out the door today, even though I insisted I was fine. You know, with the exception of those symptoms listed above. And the mild (mild!) dizzy spells that have left me stabilizing myself against the wall for the past couple of days. Drat. I'm too cheap to go along quietly with missing hours at work, but after drinking a little Theraflu Maximum Strength, I must admit I'm

Behold, Pottery Barn's Sand Vase Filler . Only $8.50! I suppose the price may seem a bit much, but it's not like you can get 4 pounds of sand anywhere else, right? Besides, it's from Pottery Barn! Really, Pottery Barn? Has anyone out there purchased this fancy pants sand? Is it actually made up of finely ground diamonds and unicorn tears?

Let's rewind to high school, when my stubborn teenage self insisted (demanded!) at the orthodontist's office on the very last appointment before getting braces that there was no way I was ever, EVER going to put those sharp, ugly things in my mouth. My mom told me that I'd regret it and would have to pay the thousands of dollars for braces myself in another 10 years or so. I knew she was wrong. I just knew it. Now, I'm at an age where my smile just doesn't send the professional image I would like. Between you (the entire internet world!) and me, I don't have the most attractive front teeth. I had my teeth fixed in the 3rd grade after a little accident, (Face, meet Road) and now, 20-something years later, the composite build ups are chipped and showing their age, with a noticeable horizontal line separating real tooth from fake. Oh, and as if this weren't all bad enough, the 2 teeth are different sizes with a gap between them! When I told my boss, a

Meet Stretch. "Love my rolls." Stretch lives on the wall in our kitchen. See the smug look in his eyes? There's really no stopping him. Now, using the authority of his mighty rump, Stretch has expanded his occupancy of our home to include the laundry room door. Pica thinks this is a bunch of nonsense.

I needed to access an old Qwest bill, but was having trouble setting up an online account. I selected the Online Chat option. The representative and I got off to a good start. Providing verification that I was indeed the account owner would be simple enough, right? I told the representative my name, account number, and billing zip code, as requested. A few minutes passed before receiving any reply. "To verify your identity, what is the answer to your secret account question?" Ummm...my what? It's a bit stupid tricky to answer a question that hasn't been asked. I inquired specifically what the secret account question was. Another pause. "If you cannot answer your secret account question, instructions for resetting your online password can be mailed to you." I asked again WHAT IS THE QUESTION?! I wrote that I was sure I could answer the question, if only I knew what it was. No response. I wrote a few common question/answer combinations that I thought it

Or is it a super-stealth pantry of looove? Sexy Nerd recently had a birthday and graduated from a fancy pants program at work, all on the same day. Clearly, this called for something special. See that pretty white door? It's just your typical, everyday pantry. Go ahead and open the door. Grab yourself a box of Multigrain Cheerios. ***SURPRISE!!!*** (Ahem. The banner is the surprise , not the mess.) I may not have thought this through. How do I top this next year? And Sexy Nerd's next birthday is a pretty big deal - 30! Geez, perhaps I should've stashed my banner away for another 12 months. Who am I kidding? Sexy Nerd is such an old man now, he'll have forgotten all about this banner by next year.

At the ripe ol' age of 27, I figure it's time to place higher emphasis on staying in shape. I've been very good about getting up early the last few weeks and going for a walk before work. Yesterday, I walked further than I ever have on my own and, of course, was feeling quite impressive later when I told my coworker how far I'd gone. She immediately stopped what she was doing. Her eyes grew enormous and she asked, "You walked there this morning ?!" I bragged about how the walk really wasn't very challenging and how you just have to make the time, even if it means setting your alarm for 5am. That wasn't why she was alarmed. "Didn't you watch the news this morning? Did you hear all the sirens?" Honestly, I had heard *something* when I started out on my walk, like the sound of a police officer talking on a megaphone the next street over, but I didn't give it much thought. My coworker asked my route again, then pointed out: &quo

On Saturday, Sexy Nerd and I rode our state money pit, the Rail Runner, from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. It was standing room only for most of the 1 1/2 hour ride, so we were relieved to find two seats at the back of the train. Even better, we found two seats side by side! I read in the Albuquerque Journal a few weeks ago that New Mexico actually lost so much money on the Rail Runner last year that they could have purchased a Toyota Prius for each and every passenger from 2010 and still come out ahead. But, I digress. At the Rail Runner's first stop, a family with a baby boarded. There were many people around, including other families with children, but they asked us if we minded keeping an eye on their stroller. Easy enough. So here Sexy Nerd and I were, riding to Santa Fe with a stroller. Another family hopped onto the train. Again, there were plenty of people they could have asked to watch their car seat. This is how a sign works, isn't it?

Bloggy friends, who else has come downstairs to find their husband asleep... on the couch... with the remote control for the speakers on top of his head? Be honest.

After she was spayed, Sexy Nerd and I requested that Pica be sent home wearing a cone (really, how much can you trust a Jack Russell not to chew her stitches?) The veterinarian thought it was unnecessary, but complied.  Post-surgery and drugged out of her little mind, we put Pica straight to bed. After she had rested, the real fun began... I love when she walks into the lamp. Bonk!

While visiting Sexy Nerd's family for the 4th of July, the topic of our bizarre wedding came up. No one believed me about some of the things that our wedding officiant, Captain Howie, had discussed during the ceremony. Most of them were there though. They must have blocked the craziness out. Luckily, everything was recorded. Click the image to enlarge - you won't regret it! As you can imagine, there were some red flags about using Above Heaven's Gate and Captain Howie for our wedding. For example, after months of communicating through email, we called and were told to hang on so they could get someone who speaks Spanish. You know, because we live in New Mexico. We even canceled him as our wedding officiant and planned a new ceremony at Turtle Bay...but we switched back because we liked Captain Howie's location better. Funny enough, "his location" was Moli'i Gardens and I'm not sure we actually had permission to be there  (actually, I'

We just arrived home from our July 4th travels and are worn out. How worn out? A moment ago, Sexy Nerd was asleep on the couch, despite his recorded Nascar race progressing without him. He was sitting up with the remote control for the speakers on top of his head , completely dozed off. He put it there in his sleepy daze. You can find a photo here . Yes, I'm a mean wife. The flash from my photos woke him up. Now he's grouchy. Anyway... We visited Sexy Nerd's family in Colorado this weekend and my parents tagged along. On a whim, we drove up to Cottonwood Pass. We really weren't dressed appropriately. Shorts and t-shirts are an ideal choice for a hot 4th of July. But wait! What is that in the distance? Snow! And Sledders!! Really, who are these people who go sledding in July? You crazy Coloradans! Of the four of us, I was dressed the most sensibly of all. It drives my mom crazy when she tries to take my photo and I pull out my camera and