Kitty Deschanel | Food, Wine, and Travel Adventures Across the USA

Remember the 1963 GMC truck we purchased after attending the Street Rod Nationals? SN has been diligently restoring this disaster of a vehicle, which is currently in pieces scattered around our garage and yard. I thought you might enjoy seeing Before photos. Restoration of a 1963 GMC Truck What were we thinking? Meet our old farm truck, 'The Lawn Ornament'. We love the turquoise and even the rust. Well, maybe not all the rust - don't use the side step or it will snap right off! Originally purchased by a New Mexico railroad worker on Christmas Eve of 1962, our GMC truck came fully loaded with all the bells and whistles. While cleaning it out, SN found decades of mementos, including the original paperwork, lipstick, wine glasses...and shotgun bullets in the glove box. Automotive safety standards were a *little* different back in the 1960s. The leaky gas tank was located inside the cab, directly behind the seat. Relocating it to pretty much anywhere else is on SN's To Do ...

After years of enjoyment from Pica Hates the Train , which still makes us laugh, we wondered if little Olive would ever have a hilarious video of her own. We didn't have to wait long. 10-week-old Olive VS grouchy ol'  Biscuit : Olive is such a silly weirdo. After she drags Biscuit on a walk, she's going to eat your foot with those super sharp puppy teeth. Watch out! For some reason, this plays in an adorable loop on my Facebook , but only an awkward single time on my blog. 4/7/20 Update: We have added another puppy to our pack! Isn't Bernadette cute?

Sexy Nerd takes it upon himself every year to dole out the Halloween candy. Interacting with trick-or-treaters and their hovering parents is a bit much for antisocial me, so this works out perfectly. It's also an ideal situation for the kids, because Sexy Nerd is a pushover and easily forgets all about my stingy "2 candies each" rule whenever a child with an adorable costume or sweet voice shows up at our door, scooping up enormous handfuls of candy instead. Spoiler: They all have adorable costumes and/or sweet voices. Our first year in our first home, one trick-or-treater was a little boy dressed as a skunk. He was only about 2 and had the most adorable Halloween costume ever, along with an irresistible "Twick-or-Tweat Pwease". His mom was holding his bag of candy at the end of our driveway, so he held out his furry, mittened skunk hands. Sexy Nerd was no match for the cuteness and gladly forked over a massive handful of Tootsie Rolls, Caramels, and Gummy C...

A lifelong, chronic insomniac , I recently completed an overnight sleep study at the DaVita Medical Group New Mexico Center for Sleep Medicine. Beforehand, I wondered what happens during a sleep study .  My expectations were low - a lifetime of sleeplessness will do that to you - but I liked the idea of being able to officially rule out certain sleep conditions, such as sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, once and for all. Plus, whenever I complain about Sexy Nerd's snoring, he's all too quick to point out that I snore as well. Spoiler alert - the polysomnogram found that I do NOT snore. Take that, Sexy Nerd! What To Expect During a Sleep Study With all those wires and gizmos, they ought to call it a NO Sleep Study.  I arrived at the sleep clinic around 7 pm and was escorted to a private bedroom. Told to change into my pajamas, the nurse quickly added that I must do that in the bathroom with the door closed, as the bedroom is constantly monitored by cam...

Happy Valentine's Day, my bloggy friends! We had a romantic evening sampling Church's Chicken. Thumbs up for their chicken tenders. Now, we're settling in for the night with a cozy Pass and Play game of Words with Friends. Valentine's Day just isn't the same when you're old and married, is it? Who's up for an old, romantic story? Let's not call it a repost. It's a blog classic . Sexy Nerd and I spent Friday morning at the Albuquerque Zoo* (you know, the one notorious for dismembered giraffes and break-ins by idiots). There was a small group of women with their young children walking ahead of us when we crossed paths with a few peacocks. Hey baby. One woman began to explain to her children that the male peacock is the one with the beautiful feathers, which he uses to attract a mate. Normal enough. The other woman, however, jumped in very enthusiastically (and probably more loudly than she'd intended) and said: "If I ...

  My Amerisleep AS3 Unboxing Video (Surprise, my voice is ridiculous!) If I can (just barely) do it, you can totally tackle a bed-in-a-box by yourself. Updated 10/15/22 Amerisleep's AS5 was recently featured as the 'Best Soft Mattress in a Box' by Good Housekeeping , with the panel of reviewers noting: Pressure relief for side sleepers Taller than other boxed mattresses Good customer service    Amerisleep Mattress Reviews  We've been happy Amerisleep customers since purchasing our first AS3 mattress more than 9 years ago. Now we also have an AS2 and an AS4 (the AS3 is still our favorite). Born with chronic insomnia  (even as a baby - my family insists I was a nightmare), the struggle to improve my sleep is my life. My husband, the overly-analytical mechanical engineer, was initially skeptical of a mail-order mattress, but he was quickly won over. 2012: Wine glass test, sans wine. I was fairly confident our brand-new mattress would pas...