Kitty Deschanel

Q. Would you rather have all the ice cream you want for the rest of your life, in all sorts of yummy flavors and with exotic toppings and mix-ins but you could NEVER have any kind of cake again, ever ... ...or vice versa? Stumped? Be glad I didn't propose a choice between cake, ice cream, and cookies!

I recently purchased the second bike I've ever owned in my life. Well, I guess the third if you count the pink and purple plastic one I had when I was four. It was stolen from our yard and I've been grouchy about it ever since, BTW. Saturday, Sexy Nerd and I went for a bike ride. Holy freaking heck. I suck at bike riding. It kicked my ass. That's the only time I've ever written that word on my blog, out of 981 posts. I'm writing this shortly after returning home from said ride and my mind is in a swearing kinda mode. Okay. To be fair, I just searched my site and the word 'ass' has actually appeared a handful of times. It's a small handful though. I'm a lady. Coasting downhill is great! I could just sit there on my pretty new bike and coast forever. Well, except that the seat is a bit firm. And my thumb keeps accidentally dinging the little bike bell. And the wind hurts my ears. Which reminds me of my pre-ride preparations. I packed water,

Alternate Title: You Can Eat Rubber, Right? Braces suck. Have I mentioned that before? The other day, I placed two new rubber bands from canine to canine, then proceeded with my day and forgot all about them. For lunch, I heated up some leftover ground lamb and made a burrito. Two bites in, I realized something unnerving. I had eaten a rubber band. According to Dr. Google , eating one orthodontic rubber band isn't any cause for alarm. I was cautioned, however, that a person should not polish off an entire bag of rubber bands. Umm, why would they feel the need to need to warn against this, right? Braces and Rubber Bands Fast forward to this evening. I toasted up a plate of 3 Minute Toaster Oven Smores for me and Sexy Nerd to enjoy while chatting about our day. Despite my orthodontist's insistence that braces and rubber bands go hand in hand, plus request that I wear my rubber bands 24/7, I placed my rubber bands on the edge of the plate.  It was nice to relax with

Remember my Kids are Weird post from last week? It really always boils down to the parents, doesn't it? I got into an argument with a mom at work today. She was insisting that I schedule her daughter at 4pm and I was insisting that we save the after-school appointments for school-age children. It's hard for high schoolers to miss school for a dental check-up. The upset mother: Are you saying that my child's education isn't as important as a high schooler?? I would never say that. Oh, except for the fact that the patient who would be missing school is 18 MONTHS OLD ! Yes, lady, your daughter missing school is not as important as a high school student missing school. That is exactly what I am saying.

Today, I am 28. I feel so old! Where have my 20s gone? And where is my chocolate birthday cake?! I may be turning into a geezer, but I'm still not ready for any kiddos though. At work (pediatric dental office) the other day, a mother with 2 children came in. The older boy was 7 and the younger boy was almost 2. The brave big brother went back on his own to have his teeth cleaned, leaving mom and the toddler in our waiting room. Mom was fine. Big brother was fine. The little brother, however, was NOT okay with being left behind. He kept pressing his face against the glass door, looking for his brother, and he constantly called his brother's name. When his brother came back up front, the little boy went running to give him a big hug. "Awwww," said his mom and all of our staff. It seemed like such a sweet moment, until an instant later when the 7 year old exclaimed "OUCH!" and shoved his baby brother away. That adorable hug that we had all been a

I'm in for some weird looks with this post. As you know, I've had trouble sleeping my entire life. People often ask how I can get through the day, let alone work full-time, after several nights of little or no sleep. I think it's because I'll usually get a good night's sleep (at least, my idea of good, which can be 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep) every couple of sleepless nights. Over the past two weeks, I have not been able to recharge with one of these nights of good sleep. I've been trying to go to bed at a set time, avoid caffeine, not watch TV or blog in bed, etc., but nothing ever helps. Sleeping pills leave me lying in bed feeling somewhat dazed, as if my mind is a frozen computer screen, but not asleep. After so many nights of uninterrupted sleep deprivation, I've been feeling lethargic, complete with a nonstop, pounding headache. I'm just not myself. I stumbled downstairs the other morning, groggy and grouchy, and got out a pair of sciss

Remember my post from last year where my local Albertson's smashed my leg (on my birthday, to top things off)? Given their top-notch customer service, they were bound to be blogged again. On sale this week, 3 for $12 : Checking out, my 3 for $12 flowers rang up at $5. Why, you ask? Here is what the Albertson's cashier explained: "The first 2 bouquets are $5 each, and the third bouquet is $2." I am now enjoying my lovely assortment of flowers from Trader Joe's.

Did everyone have a pleasant weekend? Here in New Mexico, the weather was so perfect that we decided to pack a picnic lunch, ditch Albuquerque, and hike the property that we purchased a few months ago. Our "picnic" consisted of cans of Coke (his) and Diet Coke (mine) and a shared Subway sandwich. We sat on a rock with an old beach towel on top of it. That counts, right? Don't tell those hard core, wine-glasses and silverware toting picnickers about us. Anyway... We wandered our 13 acres for almost 4 hours while Sexy Nerd fiddled with his GPS, trying to mark the exact property boundaries. The perfect weather turned out to be insanely hot, which was okay because I had ignored Sexy Nerd's advice about wearing long pants and thick shoes. Shorts and sandals were working out great! You can get by just fine when you have your husband to pull branches out of your way, even if his chivalry does include a lecture on proper hiking attire. Personally, I ha

Email waiting for me this cold, snowy morning:  Drive safe…there are a ton of crazies out there!  As usual, if you can get out of the neighborhood, the roads are just fine. Thank you for the cookie :)  Aren’t you a sweetie?  I guess I can forgive you for your superior vocabularity!  Yes, I made that up though how cool would it be if that were a word? I love you! Hmmm...after reading that out of context, I suppose I had better point out that the "cookie" Sexy Nerd was referring to was indeed a real cookie, which I snuck onto the driver's seat of his truck as a surprise. Oh, and I have totally destroyed him in all 8 of our games of Words with Friends. Muah ha ha! Sadly for Sexy Nerd, I wasn't quite as sweet with my reply: Aww! You write the cutest, spur-of-the-moment emails. It kinda almost makes me feel bad for planning to make that delicious eggplant pasta for our dinner tonight. Almost. (You would hate for the eggplant

This is the built-in bookcase in our dining room. It's really not that bad, right?   Right?? If Pica wanders in much further, we may never see her again! The bookcase that my Sexy Nerd worked so hard on ( before pics here ) had become an easy place for us to stash homeless objects. It started innocently enough - a basket, a candle or two - but we were soon overwhelmed with junk. Step one of cleaning a bookcase is sorting through the junk, which always takes forever! Mostly because of things like this: Ummm, is there a reason we're keeping this little pot of dirt inside a glass? And what do these screws belong to? We do have a garage...kind of a better place for screws. And Biscuit ate the little plastic pieces out of the timer the last time it was plugged into the wall (seriously!) so there's no sense in keeping it. Sand from my trip to the Seychelles . Pretty, but it doesn't belong on the dining room bookcase. This picture is actually h

Wondering if you read this post's title correctly? Starting tomorrow, Sexy Nerd and I are going to attempt the Dr. Oz 48 Hour Cleanse , which I read about in the March issue of the Oprah magazine. The timing seems perfect. With tomorrow being Daylight Savings, our diet will be 1 hour shorter! Sexy Nerd is not 100% on board. I think he may try to cheat and have a cup of coffee in the morning. Good luck, Sexy Nerd. I have hidden the coffee! Muah ha ha! We'll see how this goes.

My second braces adjustment went a little something like this: Orthodontist: Those little wires on the sides don't want to stay in, but that's okay. We can just wire everything together. It will be much more permanent. I wasn't sure what he meant, but was aware while lying in the chair that this braces adjustment was taking much longer than the last and involved a great deal more wires and pulling on my teeth. The assistant jammed a sharp wire into my cheek and joked that she was going to give me a piercing. Ahh, so this was what he had meant: The 'After' is below (like you couldn't tell!) Afterward, Sexy Nerd took one look at me and asked what the point of clear brackets was. Ummm, yeah. My thoughts exactly. And those sharp little twisties all over? I hate those sharp little twisties!

The sequel to The Phantom of the Opera - did you know such a thing even existed? I hadn't heard of this, but saw a preview for its Fathom Event during Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Sexy Nerd and I saw it last night. The stunning chandelier scene? It has been replaced with a gunshot. I won't go so far as to say that if you enjoyed the original, you are going to love this. Actually, quite the opposite is true. Andrew Lloyd Webber recreated the characters you know and love and threw them under the bus. He took the humble ballet performances and elegant masquerade ball and revved them up into the kind of Cirque du Soleil spectacular he must have thought his audience wanted. I just wanted to see The Phantom of the Opera. The most crucial element to the plot is based on something that I am fairly certain did not happen during the original! That said, I'm glad I saw it and I recommend you see this if you enjoyed the original. It was fun to see how the characters turned out 10 yea

My orthodontist is all about sending mixed messages. At my first appointment, he said I've been brushing too hard. He showed me how to brush gently from now on. At my first braces adjustment , he lectured me about my poor oral hygiene. I had been brushing too gently! He said not to be afraid of damaging my braces and that they are very strong. He then proceeded to grip my (very sore!) lower front teeth and shake my head from side to side, demonstrating just how mighty the braces are. He said that a toothbrush should last me a month, tops, and that by the end of the life of my toothbrush, the bristles should be smashed down and splayed out. So, I went home and brushed more aggressively, per the insistence of my orthodontist. #@*&!!!!!!! And then spat out a piece of my braces. Damn you braces. Damn you.

Good morning and happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! It should be a good game between...uhhh...the two teams that are playing today. I'm just in it for the funny commercials, which I'll be watching online. Did I have you fooled? If you're a game fan, however, and you've stopped by in search of some Super Bowl party foods, might I suggest an easy peasy (and yummy!) batch of Popovers with Onion and Gouda ? Sexy Nerd-approved football snack (although, he will be ditching the game with me, so...yeah)

Ow. My first braces adjustment was bound to be bad, especially when you factor in that my teeth were still sore from my initial appointment. To really make things fun though, my orthodontist had a new rule for me. I need to squeeze my teeth together as tightly as possible for as much of the day as I can. He has assured me that my teeth will not simply explode from the pressure, but I'm unconvinced. He's still beating that dead horse that is jaw surgery. Dr. Google seems to side with my orthodontist on this, as my supposedly super-rare open bite can usually only be corrected surgically. But I didn't have an open bite before I got braces! Oh, and it would really be beneficial if I stopped drinking coffee and green tea. I came home from my appointment with a C on my oral hygiene report. I managed to make the Dean's List at UNM, but apparently cannot handle proper brushing. The assistant who rewired my braces said that my cheek was too taught and that I needed to lo

Update: Pica's memorial post Pica hates the train. She really, truly does. Pica hates the train so much. Me? I just hate the blue carpet.

*Hee, hee, hee* Sorry. In the face of social pressure, I become a nervous mess. And who can blame me? All you fabulous SITS ladies peeking and prying into every corner of my little blog. I tidied up for you, but there's always more to be done. I wonder if there's something like Merry Maids for blogs. Okay, deep breath. Are you buying my calm and collected act? Sexy Nerd told me to tackle my SITS day the same as when someone comes to visit our home, which is to kick back and leave everything as is, insisting that no one cares or is going to judge us in any way just because of some unvacuumed carpet or smudges on the light switches. He gets in trouble before every guest and insists he has no idea why, all while eating in front of the TV and spilling crumbs on the couch! But perhaps Sexy Nerd is right this time. Feel encouraged to snoop through old blog posts and stir up a little (I hope just a little) dust. And share a post (or 2! or 3!) of your own below, in a weekly LambAr

It's crazy to think that Sexy Nerd and I had our first date 8 years ago. Things were so different back then. (Click the image to enlarge) And has it already been 4 years since we got married? Really? I wonder if I'll look back another 8 years from now and be amazed at how much things have changed. By then we will hopefully have our home in the mountains and Baby Nuke . I'm hoping Pica and Biscuit will still be here (though I'm realistic that our punk Pica will probably run down the street one day, never to be seen again). If all goes according to plan, we will each have a new vehicle by then (a Prius C for me and "something sporty" for him) and will have traveled to Australia and cruised so many times. Sexy Nerd will have his Ph.D. I suppose I'll call him Dr. Sexy Nerd. Life can change so much from year to year. Based on the past 8, I think we're in for some pretty wonderful times.

Oh, the cuteness! Sorry, Pica and Biscuit. We couldn't resist! Pica was a pretty good sport about this. We're cheap frugal and keep our house at a toasty 50F. She probably wishes she could wear earmuffs all the time! Biscuit only put up with this for a few seconds, just long enough to capture her annoyed photo. Some dogs just can't pull off the earmuff look.